A Pinky Promise
by Blue Sonnet
Summary: Haruno Sakura, a struggling orphan at 17, is bound by a lifetime promise. In the course of fulfilling that promise, she enters the most prestigious high school in the country—Konoha Gakuen—and meets a blond pain in the butt and a darkhaired block of ice.
1. The Day We Meet Again

**The Day We Meet Again**

Summary: Sakura, a struggling orphan at 17, is bound by a lifetime promise. In the course of fulfilling that promise, she enters the most prestigious high school in the country—Konoha Gakuen—and meets a blond pain in the butt and a dark-haired block of ice. And what is this other secret?

* * *

"_Don't cry. I'm going to find my own way. You're going to find yours too, right?"_

"_Uh-huh…" The little girl stopped sobbing, and faced the boy with a determined look._

"_That's right. You should always smile, and never give up. Then someday, when we've both found our own ways, we'll meet again."_

"_Where?"_

"_I don't know. But we'll meet again, ok? It's the promise of a lifetime."_

_The girl nodded, and two chubby pinky fingers wound into each other to seal the promise._

* * *

"SHIT! I'M LATE!"

The pink blur rushed back and forth the tiny one-room apartment, jumping over all the carelessly strewn books on the floor and almost toppling down the full-body mirror beside the dresser. Curses were thrown at every non-living thing in the room (which consisted of everything save her). At a record speed of 10 minutes, Haruno Sakura had managed to bathe, dress, redecorate her room, review her lessons, and, she decided as she looked at herself in the mirror, look damn good for her first day in her new high school. She wore a red sleeveless overdress which reached her knees and had slits at the sides, revealing black cycling shorts. Her family's crest was embroidered at the back, and her outfit not only looked good but also allowed comfortable movement.

It was extremely important to her that she make a really good impression to everyone today. Today was the start of her ascent; it was the day when her dreams of being successful would start to come true. She had spent every cent she had left and made every effort, and finally, she had succeeded. Konoha Gakuen, at one time, had only been a dream. But now it was within her reach. She was accepted into the most prestigious high school in the whole country, which took in only the offspring of the elite clans and those with superior strength and intelligence (ehem).

But now was not the time to be gloating. With a last look to check if she had turned off all electrical appliances, she closed the door. She only had twenty minutes left to go to school, and that had to be spent in leisure walking, so she could at least preserve her appearance. Her looks meant a great deal if she was going to rely on first impressions to succeed in that school.

Today was the start of her second year, but she didn't consider her first year in her former high school a waste of time. It was then that she went up the school ladder, enough to become the number one student and a possible transferee to Konoha Gakuen. This school gave no scholarships, so every cent that her parents had left her went to matriculation. After school hours today, she still had to look for a part-time job. 'Real good Konoha will do me if I can't even feed myself,' Sakura bitterly thought as she walked to school.

* * *

The campus of Konoha Gakuen consisted of eight large buildings and a clock tower inside the main gate. Three buildings were used for classes, and another three for the dormitory complex. The library was a separate building, an old-looking structure that towered over the park beside it, with a koi pond to boot. The last building looked really formidable from outside. The brochure said that it was used for "special purposes" which Sakura assumed were interschool meetings and competitions and the like. She gazed longingly at the clock tower, which stood high above all other buildings in the school. Sakura knew she just _had_ to climb it.

"Get back here, dipshit! I'm going to kill you!"

"Heh! You can't even catch me; try saying that in your next lifetime!"

Sakura was shocked as she watched a burly guy chase an obviously delinquent blonde. So even Konoha had its share of problem students. The two were from the third year building, and were coming towards her direction at top speed. She suddenly couldn't bring herself to move.

'Damn it, this is gonna hurt…' was her last thought before she closed her eyes and braced for the impact. But after what seemed like hours, which was actually only just a few seconds, she opened her eyes and stared right into bright blue ones. He had stopped just inches in front of her and was now curiously looking her over. Then Sakura was surprised a second time.

"Hi!" The blond boy brilliantly smiled at her.

"Uh… Hi…" Sakura was smiling and greeting him back before she even knew it.

"Dammit, you won't get away!" The burly student was closing in, and the boy's eyes held mischief again.

"Uh-oh, fat ass's gonna catch up. Later!" And he dashed off towards the direction of the library.

Sakura was still dazed and unaware of the weird looks she was getting from the other students, until realization suddenly hit her.

'OH NO! I just greeted and smiled at a _delinquent_! SHIT! My future in this school is doomed!' She could practically hear her dreams crumbling down in an instant. In a panic, she looked left and right, and sure enough, the students were giving her odd looks.

Her inner self kicked in. 'Calm down, Sakura. Don't worry. You're a new student, just smile at everyone and they'll simply think you're naturally friendly. Come on, just focus and you'll do great. You've got to let them know that you're not hanging around delinquents like that. Otherwise, you'll be outta here faster than you can say _Sucess_.'

She tried to look as natural as possible; giving a smile to anyone her eyes came into contact with. She was right. One by one the students stopped staring curiously, and a slightly pretty girl even politely smiled back. Sakura was encouraged, and she tried talking to her.

"Hi! I'm Haruno Sakura, in class 2-Z. I'm kinda new here. Do you mind if we talk a little?"

The girl jumped a little, obviously surprised that Sakura talked to her, but nevertheless answered her in a little voice. "I…I'm Hyuuga Hinata. I'm also in class 2-Z. P-Pleased to meet you."

"So we're classmates, Hinata-san? How lucky! Pleased to meet you too. By the way, do you know where the teachers' lounge is? I was told to go there and look for Hatake Kakashi-san before I come to class."

"Umm… I can show you there if you like. It's in the second year building, where our classes are held. I'm on my way there myself. And Kakashi-sensei is our homeroom teacher. He's really nice, but…he's always late." Hinata looked at her shyly and giggled.

Sakura smiled at the kind girl, and they started towards the second year building. "Thanks, and don't mind if I take you up on your offer. This campus is HUGE!"

"It isn't so big once you get used to it. Besides, the only buildings that you really need to go to are our building, the library, and…there." Hinata looked like she was having difficulty explaining the last building, and merely pointed to the formidable-looking structure Sakura saw earlier. "Second year students are not allowed inside the other two buildings and dormitories, and same goes for the students of the other two years."

"Wow, it's really strict here. But when I think about it, that guy…" Sakura frowned, remembering the blond student she met earlier. He had definitely come from inside the third year building, though he looked no older than her. She turned to Hinata to ask about that, but was alarmed when she saw her companion blushing. 'Not good, Sakura,' her inner voice said. 'You're embarrassing yourself by making her remember that incident earlier.'

Sakura laughed awkwardly. "I mean… ah… it's really that strict? What about emergencies or those who have friends in the upper or lower classes?"

Hinata looked like she only just remembered she had company. "Oh, that. Well, students usually meet up on the campus grounds to chat and play, and we see each other during trai—physical education class. About emergencies, teachers are assigned to every building in the campus. They usually arrive pretty fast to take care of an emergency."

As they entered the second year building, Sakura was a bit unimpressed by what she saw. The inside was like an ordinary high school building, but she didn't know what to expect of a prestigious school either so she let that fact slip. Students were loitering at the shoe lockers and the hallways. All of it was very…ordinary. But something was definitely different; she just couldn't put her finger on it.

'It may just be that you were overrating this school, dimwit.' Her inner voice again. But what _would_ she expect of a school with a hundred percent student success rate?

"…save for a few people," Hinata was saying, almost in a whisper. Her pearl eyes were darting from left to right in her panic. Damn it! Sakura cursed herself for not listening. She would have wanted to ask Hinata about what she was saying and risk being rude, but her companion looked so uncomfortable with the topic that she decided to let it drop. If it was that important, then she'd eventually learn of it, right?

"Oi Hinata! Get over here!" The rough voice took both girls' attention.

Hinata looked extremely upset. "I…I'm sorry, Sakura-san. I know I shouldn't leave you like this, but Kiba-kun is really impatient."

Sakura laughed and waved her hand. "No, no! It's me who should be sorry for taking up so much of your time! Thanks, Hinata-san! You helped me out a lot. I hope we can be friends."

Hinata smiled timidly and nodded her head. "You're welcome. And I'll introduce you to our other classmates when you get to class."

I think you should go now," Sakura grinned as the second "Oi Hinata!" was heard over the crowd.

Hinata giggled. "Yes, I should. Oh, by the way, the teachers' lounge is the second door to the right of this hallway. Well then, see you in class!" She waved and ran off towards the stairwell.

Sakura smiled and waved too, then walked towards the teacher's lounge. Upon reaching the door, she knocked twice and let herself in.

"Excuse me. Is Kakashi-sensei here?"

A young instructor with spiky hair and a scar on the bridge of his nose greeted her. "Oh, I haven't seen you around here. You must be the new student…hmm…Haruno Sakura, right?"

"Yes. Umm…are you by any chance Kakashi-sensei?"

The instructor grimaced. "I'd die first. Actually, the guy you're looking for, he's late."

"Again." The female voice carried itself towards them with just a little bit of dislike. A stunning woman with wavy black hair and scarlet eyes was seated at the farthest desk from the door, sorting out papers.

"Now, now, Kurenai-san, we know it isn't always like that. Uhh… just sometimes."

"Iruka-sensei, his excuses are outrageous. Anyway," she continued, glancing at Sakura, "since it's obvious that he won't be coming in the _near_ future, I suggest you take care of this student yourself."

Iruka looked like he'd have wanted to be anywhere but here. "Damn. Do I really have to? I think I'm gonna be sick again."

"I don't care. Just get the girl to her class."

He turned to Sakura, who was openly gawking at Kurenai, and sighed. "Kakashi better show up today or I'll make him pay. Let's go, Sakura."

Sakura blushed with embarrassment. "Ah…yes. Please lead the way, Iruka-sensei."

Iruka grinned. "So polite. Our job would be a _lot_ easier if your classmates took after you!"

'Damn right!' Inner Sakura was saying, but "Uhh…thanks…I think…" was what came out instead.

* * *

"If you've read the brochure we sent you, you should know the basics about this school. The three buildings…"

Iruka kept his incessant chatter as they made their way to the classroom. Of course Sakura knew about the school! Aside from what she learned from Hinata a while ago, she had also spent so much time poring over research about Konoha Gakuen before she decided to transfer here. She knew that the classes were arranged alphabetically, with A as the highest, with only one exception—Class Z. The students in this class were the top of the elite and those superior to everyone else in terms of strength, talent, intelligence, etc. Students in this class were maintained or demoted based on results of exams held every three months, so there was no time to even relax. That was why even though Sakura knew she'd get no rest, she was still proud to have made it to the top with her efforts.

"This is it."

They had stopped in front of the only door on the fourth floor. 'So the elite students have their own floor,' Sakura thought, amazed. 'They really _are_ treated specially.'

Iruka touched the handle, fully intending to open the door, but suddenly stopped as if remembering something. "Oh yeah, there's something else. Before becoming a part of Class Z, there's something you must decide on first. But Kakashi-sensei will explain that to you later. For now, let's just go in and introduce you."

It was noisy. Students were scattered among tables and animatedly talking to themselves. The classroom was built auditorium-style. Sakura breathed a sigh of relief. The students didn't look boring and studious, quite the opposite, in fact. While she looked around for any sign of Hinata, Iruka moved to the center of the room and knocked thrice on the teacher's table to get the class's attention. Some looked, but the others didn't even give a sideward glance. Having had about enough, the infuriated instructor slammed the side of his fist onto the blackboard.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

Sakura was horrified at the instructor, but when she looked at her classmates, she was dumbstruck. No one looked remotely surprised or shocked, and some were even harboring bored expressions. She guessed that this must be a pretty common situation for the students.

Iruka scratched the back of his head. "_Che_. This is why I hate these stuck-up little girlies. Sakura, come here and introduce yourself."

Still stunned, Sakura meekly walked towards the instructor and bowed to the class. "I-I'm Haruno Sakura, pleased to meet you."

"She'll be your classmate starting today. She hasn't _learned_ yet, so play nice, little girlies. Any questions?"

"Ho ho ho. No need for such unusual remarks, Iruka-sensei." The casual reprimand came from an old man who had just entered the room.

"Sandaime-sama!"

Now everyone looked surprised. _What_ was going on? Whisperings of "It's the Director…" reached Sakura's ears and she understood.

The Director came forward and chuckled slightly. "I just came to check on our new student. How is your first day, my dear?"

Sakura bowed to him and answered softly. "It's going well, sir. Thank you for asking."

"That's good. If you have any problems, you just come to me, ok?" He reached out to touch her cheek and winked at her.

Wait, did he just _wink_ at her! Sakura was shocked, again. She hadn't prepared for so many surprises in one day. Problem students in the most prestigious school in the country, the supposed elite class full of delinquents, a _very_ profane teacher, and now an old pervert for a Director!

"Sandaime-sama, may I please have a word with you? _Outside_?" Iruka spoke slowly, and Sakura missed the venom in those words. Unbeknownst to her, most of her classmates were now sporting grins and one girl was wearing a worried expression.

The Director raised one hand to silence him. "What you have to say to me can wait, Iruka-sensei. This student is much more imp—GAAAH!"

Sakura watched wide-eyed as the young instructor punched the Director full in the face, and sent him flying to the wall. Then there was a puff of white smoke where he had hit the wall, and when it cleared, the blond boy from earlier was there instead of the Director. Sakura's mouth dropped open.

The boy was grinning as he wiped his lips with his fist. "_Heh_. I didn't think you'd find out that easily."

Iruka, looking really annoyed,walked towards the boy and lifted him by his collar. The other students were already chuckling and eagerly awaiting the upcoming confrontation.

"Your _henge_ wouldn't even be able to fool a genin, you idiot. Bad transformation, bad acting, bad everything. I tolerated you at first because the new student was here. But for you to even dare tarnish the Sandaime-sama's reputation like that; you know there will be hell to pay, Uzumaki Naruto."

What…was happening? Sakura didn't understand one bit. _Henge_? Genin? Transformation? So he isn't the Director? So the Director isn't a pervert? Uzumaki Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto? _Uzumaki Naruto?_

"EEEEHH! _You're_ Uzumaki Naruto!" Sakura screeched, and pointed her finger at the blond. The whole class went silent, and even Iruka stared at her in disbelief.

Naruto grinned at her. "Hehe. I thought you'd already forgotten, _Sakura-chan_."

* * *

This is my first Naruto fic. I was reading the Naruto manga, and suddenly, I had the weirdest inspiration. After that, I was forming ideas in my head and before I knew it, I was typing away. Just so you know, this story is not totally AU, just the plot. There will still be jutsus and ninjas, and other stuff.

For now, the story will be revolving around Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke (his royal sexiness _will_ make an appearance). Pairings are…a secret. Actually, my favorite Naruto pairings are SasuSaku, NaruHina, and ShikaTem. But I'm not quite so sure in this fic, so they're on hold until I can decide who is for whom. But definitely, there will be no shounen-ai or yaoi pairings here. Not that I hate them or anything, it's just that I _can't_ write them. Though maybe it's for lack of trying, who knows?

Anyway, thanks for reading, and please review! I'll accept anything. And I'll try to update as soon as possible, ok? Till next time!


	2. The Open Trapdoor

Chapter 2: **An Open Trapdoor **

_This has got to be a dream._

That was Sakura's last thought before she dashed out of the classroom, leaving the people inside staring at the now-empty door. Even Naruto was surprised. Was it something he said? But there was no time for him to ponder on that thought. Iruka was now gripping his collar harder, his past blunder forgotten under the new dilemma.

"Damn it, Naruto! I thought better of you! _What the hell did you do to her?_"

Iruka-sensei was dead serious. Naruto thought he had better tell the truth. "Nothing, Sensei! I swear!"

"If you did nothing, then why did she look like she'd seen a ghost?"

Naruto conveniently chose that time to be silent. What was between him and Sakura was their own business. Unfortunately, Iruka wasn't up to being patient after all the problems Naruto had caused. Out of frustration, he raised his fist to strike Naruto a second time, but was stopped by someone's firm grip on his arm.

"_Yare yare_. You're hot-headed so early in the morning, Iruka-sensei."

Iruka was forced to look at the owner of the smooth masculine voice. The always-late Kakashi had spiky white hair and wore a black mask, showing only the upper right portion of his face. His right hand gripped Iruka's arm, and his left held a new issue of the _Icha Icha _series. People had a hard time deciphering the emotions beneath his unfading smile, and Iruka was facing the same predicament right now. The young instructor forced himself to relax, then gently let go of Naruto. The blond immediately dashed outside to follow Sakura.

Needless to say, Iruka was disgusted. Disgusted at Naruto, because the problem student didn't know his limits. Disgusted at Kakashi, because he wouldn't have been here in the first place if the jackass wasn't late. And disgusted mostly at himself, because he had lashed out in anger without even properly analyzing the situation. Come to think of it, the girl _might_ have just been shocked when she saw the jutsu. _Damn._

Kakashi had let go of Iruka's arm the moment he saw him relax. This was _very_ bad. Naruto had outdone himself this time. 'There's going to be some serious butt-kicking when Sandaime-sama hears of this.' Kakashi winced at the thought, because he knew that this time, it was his ass on the line.

"_Che._ There's no point in staying here. I'm going," he muttered, and Iruka silently left the classroom.

Kakashi sighed and scratched the back of his head in resignation as the class resumed their chatter, if a bit subdued. He picked up a piece of chalk and wrote on the blackboard the words he'd written there everyday since day one, and then disappeared as quickly as he came.

**SELF STUDY.**

**

* * *

**

_SHIT! SHIT! **SHIT!**_

That was Sakura's dominating thought as she ran to only-God-knows-where. Iruka's late deduction was only half-right. Sakura was shocked, but for a whole different reason. Every surprise she had gotten today paled in comparison to meeting her childhood friend again.

She hadn't expected to see Naruto—_the _Naruto—so soon, and certainly not right here. It wasn't supposed to happen this way. She had intended herself to be a successful person when they met again, just as he was supposed to be. She had believed this with all her heart and strived for it with all her conviction. She didn't want him to see her like this, a silly girl who had barely enough to feed herself. And she most certainly hadn't expected to see a delinquent Naruto. It was a hard blow to the gut, to see the person her lifetime dreams had anchored on reduced to doing petty pranks. At the back of her mind, she supposed he had his own reasons like she did, but at the moment she was too selfish to care. She remembered that night ten years ago like it was yesterday.

"_You shouldn't cry. You have to be strong now, Sakura-chan."_

_The pink-haired girl continued to sob uncontrollably. "Be quiet! What do **you** know? I'll never see my Mommy and Daddy again! It hurts!"_

_The boy smiled awkwardly and scratched the hair at the back of his head. "Hehe. You're right. I wouldn't know anything, Sakura-chan, because I've never had a Mommy or a Daddy."_

_Grief was momentarily replaced by childish curiosity as Sakura looked at him. "Why? Where's your Mommy and Daddy?"_

_The hurt he had been trying to hide surfaced in those bright blue eyes. "I don't know. I don't know who my Mommy and Daddy are."_

_Then she understood. This boy, who had always been here to play with her, laugh with her, and cry with her, had never known a Mommy's love. He had never been taken to the park and bought ice cream by his Daddy as her own had done countless of times. Yet he still smiled so joyfully, even though he must have been feeling for years the same hurt she was feeling right now._

"_But I'm okay now, Sakura-chan! I'm going to be the world's strongest person! Everyone will accept me, and I'll find my Mommy and Daddy for sure!"_

_Sakura wiped her runny nose with her fist, trying desperately to stop crying._

_Naruto grinned at her. "That's right! You can look ahead, look up, or look down. Just don't look back!"_

He had said these words to her on the night her parents were buried. He had seemed so cool and so strong compared to the crybaby she had once been. They promised to find their own ways and meet again, and some time after that she learned he had moved to a new place. That was the last they had seen of each other, until now.

Sakura stopped to relax at the park beside the library, sat down at the swing, and closed her eyes. She was sure that Naruto had his own reasons for doing what he does. He _wouldn't_ break their promise, just as _she_ wouldn't. Feeling a bit better after her momentary respite, she opened her eyes—and almost had a heart attack.

She punched the masked face just inches away from hers.

"**_IIYAAAAAAAA! _**GET AWAY FROM ME, YOU PERVERT!"

Kakashi rubbed his jaw ten feet away from her, where he was sprawled. 'OW! What crazy strength! An inch closer and my face would've been deformed for life!'

Sakura was hysterical—flailing her arms like a beheaded chicken and screaming "Pervert!" over and over. He moved towards her and shook her shoulders to gain her attention. "Calm down! There's no pervert here!"

It worked. "There isn't?" She eyed him suspiciously. "Then who are _you_?"

"I'm Hatake Kakashi. I was supposed to tour you around the—" Kakashi started to explain, but Sakura cut him off.

"_Eeh?_ K-Kakashi-sensei?" She slowly lifted her finger to point at him.

Kakashi pointed to himself and spoke very slowly. "_Sou._ Kakashi-sensei."

Sakura was speechless as realization dawned. 'Gawd! I just punched a teacher in the face!'

She quickly stood up and bowed to him several times. "Ah…I'm sorry! I'm really sorry! I didn't know and you just came up without me knowing and it was just pure instinct and I'm _really_ sor—"

Kakashi clamped her mouth shut with his hand. "I know, I know. Little harm done so don't worry about it. As I was saying, I'm here to tour you around school. Now if you can stay quiet and just listen, we can start right now. Ok?"

When Sakura nodded, he gently let go of her. He started to walk, and motioned for her to do the same. But their destination was not the second year building, but the formidable-looking building Hinata had pointed to her earlier.

"If you've read about this school, you should know about the one hundred percent student success rate label on us. Well? What do think now that you've seen it firsthand?"

Sakura didn't know how to answer. In truth, she was a bit disturbed that there were students here who were delinquents, even in the elite class. Kakashi noted her silence and laughed.

"Hahaha! I expected you to react that way." He explained when he saw Sakura's questioning look. "When I saw your grades in your previous year, I realized that someone as studious as you would have a heart attack if you were put in the same class as those troublemakers."

He was on another bout of laughter while Sakura remained silent, embarrassed now at what she had worked so hard for the past year. _Damn it_. If she only knew she hadn't needed to be "studious", then she wouldn't have put such back-breaking effort to please everyone. Oh, she was intelligent enough without needing to study much; but to be number one in the whole school, she had to gather support from both the teachers and her fellow students. It was hard work, to pretend to be someone else for sixteen hours of every day for the past year. She highly doubted they would willingly give their support if they knew who she really was…

"Anyway, all of it, it's true. Hard to believe with what you see right now, but every student that has stepped inside the gates of Konoha Gakuen has been successful in their respective fields. That's because…well, we have a secret."

He couldn't have been more blunt. Whatever secret that was, it was miracle enough to transform rude good-for-nothings to the successful people that the rumors were singing praises of. They had stopped in front of the double-door entrance. Kakashi pushed the doors open and walked inside. The entrance gave way to a balcony, and Sakura was greeted with an incredible sight. Is that…_an army_?

Sakura rubbed her eyes and looked more closely. They were just first year students lined up in rows inside the huge concrete room below the balcony, doing some form of exercise with their hands. '_But what an amazing sight!_ There must be roughly three hundred first years here!'

A collective shout of "_Bunshin no Jutsu_!" was heard, and puffs of white smoke appeared out of nowhere at random places in the room. Then Sakura's mouth dropped open as the estimated number doubled right before her eyes. She blinked, but the copies didn't disappear. 'OH MY GOD! _They're freakin' magicians_!'

Kakashi stifled a chuckle as he looked at her stunned expression. That priceless look was worn by every new student on their first day. "That's our secret. We're ninjas."

It took some time before she could digest that fact. "_Eh_? _Ninjas_? Ninjas—as in _shinobi_?"

"Yup."

Sakura didn't know whether to laugh or punch the grinning teacher again. She sighed instead. "Do I get to hear the punch line now?"

"There isn't. I'm not joking."

Her head snapped up to glare at the teacher. "Please be serious, Sensei. That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard in my entire life."

Kakashi scratched the back of his head. This was why he hated doing the explaining. "You saw Naruto do a _henge_ a while ago, didn't you? And what you see now is the _bunshin_. Both are forms of basic ninjutsu that we teach here."

So it was true. They were ninjas. But at least they weren't magicians. Ninjutsu is WAY cooler than magic. Put that way, Sakura began to relax.

Kakashi moved towards the stairway leading upstairs as he continued his explanation. Sakura followed. "To start with, this school has been training ninjas for the past three hundred years. But it isn't mandatory for everyone. They're given a choice of whether to undergo training or just remain as normal students. If I'm right, approximately two-thirds of the students in school are normal students. That's what we're giving you right now, a choice."

"So ultimately, it'll be my choice."

The room they had just entered was the target room. Innumerable circular targets much like those used in archery were attached everywhere in three sides of the large wooden room. Students all around were throwing _shuriken_ and _kunai_ at the targets' center with perfect accuracy. Sakura's mouth dropped open for the nth time that day.

"That's right. But I'll have to explain everything to you first before you make your choice. Anyway, there are five levels of ninja that can be achieved. Lowest is Genin, then Chuunin, then Jounin, then Anbu, and highest, the Hokage. Even if you are trained to be a ninja, that doesn't necessarily make you one. You have to pass a series of tests to achieve a higher level; in your case, from trainee to genin."

Sakura winced. "Sounds hard."

"It is. Being a ninja isn't child's play. Lives are at risk every minute of every day. _That_ is what we want every trainee to remember."

That statement was followed by an awkward silence. Sakura, because she didn't know how to react at all, and Kakashi, because he couldn't remember what to say next. He only recalled what he was supposed to say after a grueling minute.

"Anyway, we've developed our own curriculum for student-trainees. First years learn basics—ninjutsu, genjutsu, taijutsu, ninja movement, and basic ninja information. Basic ninjutsu includes _bunshin_, _henge_, and other necessary techniques; basic genjutsu involves determining and breaking illusory techniques; basic taijutsu is hand-to-hand combat; and ninja movement includes stealth, speed, and jumps for footwork, and _shuriken_ and _kunai_ throwing. Even though you're a second year, you'll have to train with the first years so you can work on the same level."

That was disheartening. Sakura thought she couldn't possibly go down one level and waste a year.

"Ah, I forgot to mention. Student-trainees are burdened with heavier work, since they study the normal students' lessons and keep up with their _shinobi_ training at the same time."

Now _that_ was even more surprising. "That's ridiculous! That's back-breaking work!"

Kakashi treated the outburst with casual disregard. "We can't have student-ninjas from our school knowing nothing about the normal curriculum when they graduate, can we? And another thing, they can quit if the training is too hard for them, or the teachers can stop their training if they think the student can't make it. They can't get back to being ninjas, though. Every year, a considerable amount of trainees quit, so when graduation comes, only an average of ten ninjas graduate from the school. The rest graduate as normal students."

Sakura swallowed hard. From three hundred down to ten? The training must be unbelievably hard.

Kakashi continued. "Anyway, I'll have to explain about second years too, since technically, you _are_ a second year. Like in a normal curriculum, first year student-trainees have to pass final exams to get to the second year. The second year curriculum is a bit different. For one, there will be no more formal classes for _shinobi_ training; students will have to train by themselves. Three months after the start of the year—which is two months from now, all second year trainees will be divided into three-man teams. These teams will be allowed to take the genin exam by their own choice. Those teams who _will_ pass the exam will be given a sensei as an overseer and at times will be sent on missions all over the country."

Inner Sakura was already ranting. '**Damn it! **I'm gonna kill this jackass if he doesn't slow down!"

But of course, even one bit of that didn't show on the girl's face. Only a bored "Missions?" was heard from her lips.

Kakashi was currently admiring her incredible amount of self-control. Or maybe she just didn't care. "Oh yeah, I haven't told you yet. Everything involving ninjas are handled with extreme secrecy. The people who know about us are either extremely wealthy people or very well-placed—company executives, government officers, and the like. That's because we're hired ninjas. Our jobs range from simple farm work to dangerous assassinations. Hundreds of requests come in every month. The Hokage—that's the Director—is the one sorting out the requests and deciding which ones to honor. Of course, we are paid sizably for our services."

Kakashi ended that sentence on a conclusive note, so Sakura assumed explanation time was finished. "Is that all?"

Well…there were still many things, but…oh well. "Yup. You have until end of class today to decide whether you want to train to be a ninja or not. I'll be at the teachers' lounge if you need me. You don't have to come to class."

Sakura nodded, and started towards the exit of the building.

"Sakura."

She looked back.

"There's one last thing."

"What is it?"

"We may accept idiots," they both knew who he was referring to, "but we don't tolerate wimps."

Sakura nodded then turned to resume walking. She didn't know what to say to that. Was she a wimp after all?

* * *

"Sakura-chan!" "Saaakura-chaaan!" "Saaaaakura-chaaaaaaan!" "SAAAAAAAAKURA-CHAAAAAAN!"

Despite having seen the surprises inside the training grounds, Sakura was still taken aback at the hundred Narutos jumping over and around the buildings inside the campus, each calling out her name. But after a while, surprise was replaced by embarrassment, then by annoyance. Sakura decided she'd had enough.

"DAMN IT, NARUTO! GET YOUR NOISY ASS DOWN HERE!"

Sakura immediately realized her mistake. It wasn't that she was probably as loud as him, but she was concerned about another, more immediate danger. And she was right.

Three Narutos heard her, but only one spotted her. "Sakura-chan!" Then she was mobbed by a hundred blond heads.

Cries of "I'm sorry, Sakura-chan!" "Sakura-chan, where were you?" "I'm sorry, Sakura-chan!" "Have you seen the grounds, yet?" "I'm sorry, Sakura-chan!" "Are you ok?" "I'm _really_ sorry, Sakura-chan!" were simultaneously thrown at her.

She was going to go crazy after all. "SHUT UP!"

'So miracles still happen,' Sakura thought as the boy, or horde of boys, was suddenly silent. Then one by one, the clones disappeared in puffs of smoke, leaving only the farthest from her. She took her time assessing her childhood friend's appearance. He was taller than her now, so unlike ten years ago. And he was lean too. She had a hard time recognizing him a while ago because he had changed so much physically. But had she given time to study his face, then she would've known who he was in an instant. He still had those lines on his cheek, kind of like whiskers but not really hair; and he still wore that very familiar expression, a crossover of a grin and an awkward smile. He was Naruto, all right. Her Naruto.

She was startled back to the present. "Sakura-chan, are you ok?"

"Ah…yeah… I was just thinking how much you've changed." It was the first time she had actually answered a question so unguardedly. Sakura was amazed at herself.

Naruto brightened. "You've changed too, Sakura-chan! You're really cute now!"

For Naruto, it was true. The chubby girl had blossomed into a real flower. She had grown her hair; it now reached the middle of her back. And she had the elegance of a princess and the temper of a tiger.

She smiled. "Thanks. Umm…look, why don't you walk around with me? We'll call it a date."

"Hehe…Ok! Wow, a date with Sakura-chan! I remember back then, you got mad every time I said we were on a date." He chuckled at the memory.

Sakura remained silent. There were only two hours until dismissal today. She still hadn't decided yet, but right now her main worry was how to approach Naruto. What she didn't expect was that he'd open the topic himself.

"About the promise, Sakura-chan. I haven't fulfilled it yet. But I've found my way!" He grinned at her. "I'm going to become Hokage! I'm going to be the strongest in the world!"

"I think that's great. But…I haven't found mine yet. Naruto, I think it'd be better if…"

She broke off, not knowing how to tell him such a thing. To her surprise, he grinned and offered his hand to her. "Hi! Nice to meet'ya! I'm Uzumaki Naruto, the next Hokage!"

_Damn it_, she wouldn't cry! He had said with his actions what she couldn't say with words. For now, until the fulfillment of that promise, it was a new start. She blinked and swallowed hard, then smiled and shook his offered hand. "I'm Haruno Sakura, let's be friends, okay?"

He scratched the back of his head and grinned awkwardly. "Oh yeah! That technique you've seen earlier, that's a forbidden technique! My _Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_!"

"Really? Then how'd you learn it?"

"Hehehe…the great Uzumaki Naruto has his ways! Actually, they wouldn't pass me in the ninjutsu final exam in first year. They said I couldn't do my _bunshin_ right. Hah! I snuck into the old man's room and took the scroll! I almost died while practicing that! Served them right when I showed them a hundred _bunshin _the next day! When Iruka-sensei heard about my sneaking in the old man's office, he almost cut my head off!"

Sakura was enjoying herself immensely. She had forgotten how much fun Naruto was when he was around.

'You're working hard, Naruto. If I'm going to succeed as much as you are going to, then I'm gonna have to work twice as hard. I've decided now.'

"Oi Naruto!" Iruka was waving at them from the entrance of the second year building. Things were looking good from his point of view. He was pleased and a bit relieved that Naruto had found the girl. The boy had probably apologized.

"Sensei!" Naruto sprinted the distance between them, with Sakura following at a leisurely pace.

Iruka smiled at the girl first. "Are you alright now?"

Sakura bowed. "Yes, I'm sorry for making you worry."

Iruka laughed. "No! No! It's nothing to apologize for! Anyway, Naruto," he turned to the blond, "how about at Ichiraku's later? My treat."

"Really? Yeah! All right!" Then he rubbed his chin. "Hehehe…Sensei… you're just guilty, _ne_?"

Iruka whacked him on the head. "Shut up! _Che_."

Sakura giggled, and eventually the three of them laughed together. Iruka looked at his watch when their laughter had subsided.

"Hey, I gotta get back to class. Oi, Naruto! Get back to class now!"

"Hehe, sorry. I'll go back now." He turned to her. "Sakura-chan, see you tomorrow, ok?"

She nodded, and Iruka also bade goodbye. He left for the fourth floor, with Naruto on his tail. Sakura couldn't help but notice the fatherly affection the young instructor was giving her childhood friend. For the first time in her life, she was envious of Naruto. Appalled as she may be, Sakura believed it was pointless to deny the truth to herself. She shook her head and walked towards the teachers' lounge. She knocked twice and poked her head inside.

"Kakashi-sensei?"

He was crouched in a corner of the room, reading _Icha Icha Paradise_. She had to call him a second time before he looked up at her. "Ah, you're here. Come in."

He stood up and invited her to sit in front of the cluttered elevated space he called his desk.

"So? What do you want to do?"

Sakura looked straight at him and clasped her hands together. "Sensei, I…I've decided to train to be a ninja."

"It's not gonna be easy. Are you sure?"

"Yes. If I'm going to achieve my goal, then this is necessary."

"If you're that decided, then I'd better give you this." Kakashi reached for his back-pocket and tossed her a long brown envelope. "Here. What's inside is that outrageous sum you paid us for matriculation."

Sakura was thunderstruck. "_Eh_? But…isn't this…?"

"I forgot to tell you earlier." Kakashi told the lie without blinking. "We don't need your money. You'll be risking your life when you train, and maybe even do missions for us in the future. You can return that to me when you decide to quit ninja training."

Sakura was ecstatic. She wouldn't have to work part time now. This school, with all its surprises, was still the best after all.

* * *

Red. The color of blood. He always watched the sunset. Not that he loved it. It was a painful reminder to him of the past, and brought about renewed determination for his only purpose in life. Power. Hate. Unending revenge. That eternal cycle of destruction had ruled his life for the past seven years. No thing, no person, was more important than his purpose.

Uchiha Sasuke was in his usual state of mind when the trapdoor at the roof of the clock tower opened and admitted…_pink_. His black eyes skimmed over the slim body that followed the pink head. The girl ran towards the edge of the roof and looked down.

It was worth it. All that hard climbing she did and all the cobwebs she'd accumulated were worth it. As she expected, the view from the top of this tower was amazing. The people on the grounds below looked like insects. That fact alone made the trip twice as rewarding. Then a chill raced down her back, like someone was staring at her. She turned back and found herself pierced with the most chilling eyes she'd ever seen. Sakura swallowed hard and prepared to apologize.

"Oh, I'm very sorry for intruding. I didn't know someone was here."

She didn't know him? That explained why she was here. No one climbed this tower at this time. It was an unwritten rule among students. No one bothered Uchiha Sasuke at sunset. He slid his hands into his pockets and continued glaring at her. It had always worked with those bothersome bitches.

"_Hn_."

Although still a bit frightened by his look, Sakura took that as acknowledgement, and went back to admiring her view. She decided to completely shut the guy out of her mind. If he can't even have the decency to answer her properly, then she just wouldn't mind him. What a waste! He was quite attractive, too.

He was dismissed. For the first time in his life, he was actually dismissed. Sasuke felt a strong urge to wring the girl's skinny neck. Instead, he settled on his most menacing look and a chilling "What the hell are you still doing here?"

She was tired. She had gone through so many surprises in one day. She had just decided her whole future in the span of three hours. She went from penniless to self-sufficient in the space of a minute. And now, her only real amusement was being taken away by some brute who thinks he's king of the world. Sakura was annoyed so much that she decided to tell him the truth.

She looked back and gave him an icy smile. "What's wrong? Isn't it obvious I'm having fun looking down on everyone?"

* * *

The office was huge and heavily furnished. Scrolls were piled up on the table in the center, and Kakashi was sure they were all requests the Hokage was sorting through. But he wasn't here to examine the office or admire the Hokage's patience at his work. It was time to give the report.

"Sandaime-sama."

The old man looked at him shrewdly. "Well?"

"The new student begins training tomorrow."

The Hokage laughed. "I knew it. I haven't told you about that girl before, have I, Kakashi?"

"Ah…no, Sir."

"When I went to that town to investigate their murder, I never thought I'd find that boy living near them. I was so overjoyed at finding him that I totally forgot about the daughter they left."

The old man chuckled.

"It seems that Haruno girl found her way to us after all."

* * *

Phew! After one week of writing and rewriting, I've finally finished the second chapter! First things first: definitions for some Japanese words/expressions and some Naruto terms mentioned here (forgot to do this in the last chappie, so sorry!). I'm not too sure about some, so please correct me if there are mistakes:

Henge – Change form

Bunshin – Clone/Replica

Kage Bunshin no Jutsu – Shadow Clone/Replication Technique

Yare yare – a male expression equivalent to "Oh no" or "Tsk Tsk" in English

Icha Icha – Come Come / Cum Cum (spelling?)

Sou – That's right. (It just seemed so Kakashi-like, I couldn't help it! Hehe)

Shinobi – Ninja (duh!)

Che – Tch (I was told this by a friend of mine, but the manga spelled it _Che_ so I wrote it like that)

Hn – a soft grunt, usually by males, and used as substitute for yes (I'm not too sure about this)

Next up: Reviews! THANK YOU SO MUCH for all your reviews! I don't have time right now so I can't reply to them all…NOT! Your reviews are all amazing and so wonderful and they give me inspiration and I treasure them all! Please continue to read and review, ok?

**Ori **– Thanks! I'm still deciding the pairings though...

**darkphoenixsaga **– Thanks! I'll keep updating for people like you!

**albaloo **– Thanks! I hope you'll continue to read my story!

**Starry096** – Thanks! I hope you'll like this one too!

**krista** – Thanks! I'll update as soon as I can!

**A Random Person** – Thanks! I'll keep writing because all of your reviews inspire me!

**cuito** – Thanks! And please do... I'll count on your reviews as well!

**xx-Tsumi-Chan-xx **– Thanks for the suggestion! I also don't like Sakura in the early stages of Naruto where she's such a flirt. But she gets cooler in the latest chapters of the manga and anime! And here too, of course.

**hikari **– Thanks! Love Hina? (authoress laughs) Actually, I know Love Hina is an anime with a kind of a promise thing as well. But this story is actually quite different! I promise!

**joekool** – Thanks! And your wish is my command! Read on and you'll see!

**Search and Seek and Destroy** – Thanks for the very nice comments! This is a romance story, but an action/adventure story as well.

**arandomreader** – Thanks! I'm glad you find it funny!

**Konoha's Bleached Star** – Thank you so much for the wonderful compliments! I'm so glad you said that! About the months sitting in between, I don't want that happening too! So I'm going to try my best and update much _much_ faster for all you devoted readers!

**Ayuka-chan** – Thanks! Read on and you'll see something nice...

**ghostface** – Thanks for the suggestion! This is one spoiler for you guys. I won't be using Akatsuki as a club, they're much too good (and much too evil) for that! But their part in this story is a secret for now!

**nitrobenzene** – Thanks! And yes, the promise of a lifetime _does_ refer to Naruto, as you've seen in this chappie. As for NaruSaku...who knows? Hehehe...

**Just a reviwer** – Thanks! Sakura is also my favorite Naruto character (isn't it obvious?), and for once I'd like to see her as someone cool!

Lastly: Pairings! I've kinda counted the votes, and I'm amazed! We've got a tie! So it's going to be a love triangle for our three heroes: NaruSakuSasu. But of course, the final decision is mine! NIAHAHAHA! Just joking! But you might be surprised if you find some NaruHina in the later chapters. Minor pairings are: ShikaTem (sorry Ino fans!) and NejiTen (by popular demand).

Thanks for all your support and please _please_ review, ok? Till next update, ja!


	3. You're Annoying

Chapter 3: **You're Annoying**

The enemy was approaching her at an incredible speed. She was going to have to fight head-on, though she didn't have the confidence that she'd pull it off. The first thing to do was relax the arms so that when she moved, there would be no friction and she could use the wind to her advantage. The opponent was doing the same and gaining acceleration as he neared her. She calculated the remaining distance between them and sprinted towards his front.

"Five feet."

"Four."

"Three. NOW!"

She used the momentum to send her right foot flying towards his face. Good. She supposed he was expecting a punch. His face showed surprise, then pain, then—to her disbelief—amusement. Then he turned into a puff of white smoke.

"Goddammit! A _bunshin_!"

Her foot had just landed on the ground when a leg slid between her feet and tripped her. She landed on her butt with a loud thud, and before she knew it, the enemy was kneeling beside her with his hand gripping her neck.

"Hehe… You lose."

He gently let go of her and helped her stand up. Sakura was very disheartened. Granted that she was only two weeks to her training, but he was a first year, for crying out loud! Technically, he was only a month advanced in ninja training, _and_ she was older and therefore wiser. Sakura's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a punch and a falling body.

"Konohamaru, you big idiot! Do you even remember _what class_ this is?" The teacher with sunglasses and black hair looked annoyed to death.

"Huh? Isn't this taijutsu class?" The black-haired first-year looked confused. Why was Ebisu-sensei asking such a weird question?

Ebisu pushed his sunglasses upward. "That's right, you dope. Taijutsu. What the hell were you thinking when you used that _bunshin_?"

Understanding dawned and Konohamaru laughed awkwardly. "Ah…hehe. Sorry Sensei, I forgot."

The teacher could only sigh in frustration. He had to remember that this boy was the grandson of Sandaime-sama. "That's why I've been telling you not to hang around with that _loser_ Naruto."

"Naruto-nii has nothing to do with this!" Konohamaru was really angry.

"Whatever." He looked at Sakura and patted her shoulders. "Anyway, good work, Sakura. You're improving fast. Only one thing. When you kick sideways, make sure you don't use too much momentum, or else you won't be able to control your landing. The point of taijutsu is to be able to attack and defend at the same time."

"That's it for the time being. You're dismissed." Ebisu spoke to the whole class and left the room. Students marched outside one by one, talking animatedly to themselves.

Sakura noticed Konohamaru was still shaking with anger. He had picked himself up from the floor but still continued to stare downwards. Although she was still a bit upset about his cheating, it was evident that he too was a close friend of Naruto's. For that, she decided to cheer him up.

"Hey, about Naruto. I don't believe what that sensei said. He obviously doesn't know the guy." She told him nonchalantly.

"They all think he's a good-for-nothing freak. But they're wrong!" He looked up with determination. "Naruto-nii…he taught me that nothing can be achieved without hard work! That's what he said! A loser wouldn't say that!"

She smiled. So this boy was someone whose life was also touched by Naruto (though the dense idiot didn't know it). "Who says you have to listen to their crap? For me, the only opinion that matters…is mine."

He fell silent, then rubbed his nose and grinned. "Hehe…you're right. To me, Naruto-nii is the coolest! You're pretty nice too, Nee-san!"

But before she could reply to that, a high-pitched shout came from the exit. "Konohamaru-kuuuuun!"

"I'm coming!" He shouted to the door, and turned back to her. "Sorry, Nee-san, but I have to go. Later!" He sprinted towards the door and was out of sight.

Sakura waved goodbye. She was an idiot. She lost, didn't she? Then what was she doing comforting some other idiot when she herself was a miserable weakling? She punched the wooden floor and winced at the pain. _Damn it._ She was improving at a fucking snail's pace. There was no way she'd catch up to the other second years at this rate. Sakura picked up her things from the bench and made her way to the exit, feeling more depressed than ever.

* * *

_Fucking showoff._

Ninjutsu one-on-one session had just finished. Second years were required to attend one-on-one sessions with the first-year examiner as a refresher course for the upcoming genin exam. Naruto had been last to come inside the teacher's office. And of course, he'd been last to come out.

_The sensei shook his head and looked at him derisively._

"_With the kind of chakra control that you have, I'd be surprised if you survived even a minute in combat. You're gonna die eventually."_

_Naruto remained silent, his patience near to breaking point. He was looking down but his hands were balled to fists. He knew it was too much to hope that the sensei's attitude towards him would change since he passed his first year._

_The examiner smirked at seeing his balled fists. "What? Are you angry? Then why don't you try and kill me, you good-for-nothing piece of crap. Not that you'll stand a chance."_

_It took all of his willpower not to do the _Kage Bunshin_ and beat the jerk to a bloody pulp. It wouldn't do him any good to get expelled, other than the pure satisfaction of seeing that asshole writhe in pain—which wasn't enough in exchange for his whole future._

_The sensei sighed in mock disappointment. "You're not gonna hit me? Too bad. You're useless. Unlike that Uchiha student. Now _there's_ exceptional talent. Someone like you wouldn't know what it'd feel like in his shoes."_

He hated it when he was compared to that bastard. He knew it only showed how stupid and weak he really was. Naruto was annoyed so much that he was ranting to himself as he walked towards the classroom.

"Damn it. '_That's wrong, Naruto! Why can't you be more like Sasuke, Naruto?_' Asshole sensei. What's wrong with doing things my own way? Sasuke this…Sasuke that… I don't give a damn about that fucking bastard! _Che._ One day I'm gonna beat that crap, and then we'll see who's really strongest!"

Naruto slammed the side of his fist to the wall in anger.

"Umm…Naruto-kun…?"

The familiar soft voice reached his ears and caused him to relax. It was no good to vent his anger out on an innocent person. Naruto forced a grin on his face and turned to the shy girl.

"Ah…hehe…sorry, I didn't know you were there, Hinata. What is it?"

Hinata blushed red to the roots of her hair. "Ah…umm…here!" She held out a blue waist-bag filled with shuriken and kunai. "Y-You forgot it inside the t-teacher's room. H-He asked me to g-give it back to you."

He took the bag and examined its contents. "Ah, thanks! I didn't realize I'd forgotten it! Sorry for the bother."

"Umm…it's okay…d-don't wor—"

But before she could finish her reply, Naruto caught a glimpse of pink and dashed towards it, leaving Hinata alone.

"Sakura-chan!"

Sakura mentally slapped herself. 'Oh no…the last thing I need to complete this abysmally unlucky day is Naruto yapping in my ear!'

She ignored him and continued towards the classroom. Naruto picked up his pace and eventually caught up.

"Sakura-chan! How's your training going?"

"_Great. Just great._ Some first-year beat me in the sparring match."

Naruto didn't catch the sarcasm. "Ah…ok. By the way, Sakura-chan, are you all right? You look pale."

"_No, really?_" Sakura caught herself. It was a good thing Naruto was pretty dense.

'Damn it, I shouldn't take it out on him! Calm down, Sakura.'

"Ah…I mean…I'm okay. I'm just tired, is all. Don't worry about me, ok?" She gave him one of her brightest smiles.

Naruto smiled back. "Ok! Just don't push yourself too hard. It's gonna be bad for you."

"Ok. What about you? How's the one-on-one?"

Something flashed in his eyes but was quickly banked. Was that anger?

Naruto chuckled awkwardly. "Hehe…Sakura-chan, you're talking to the great Uzumaki Naruto! The training is no match for my ability!"

He looked at his watch and acted surprised. "Hey, we're gonna be late! Let's get inside now!" He took her hand in his and dragged her inside.

As if. Kakashi was their next class, and he would come early to class no sooner than he would apply for priesthood. She knew something was wrong, but there was no point in blurting out her questions to him. She had her problems, and he had his. If she chose to keep hers hidden from him, then why can't _he_ keep his, right? For now, the thing that was most important was to solve her own problems. But can the problem of being naturally weak even be solved?

"Well, well, look who's here. Heard a first year beat the crap outta you As I expected, Shiny Forehead Girl isn't any good. We wouldn't invite someone who's that pathetic to join us later."

The blond girl and her gang laughed sneeringly. Naruto was about to defend Sakura but she shook her head and smirked at the girls.

"What's happening later? Pigs' night out, Ino?"

Ino fumed. "Bitch! You can't call me a pig and get away with it!" She stopped suddenly, then took a deep breath. "Well, no matter, I'll still win. The deal's still on, right? You've only got two more days, Forehead. After that, you'll experience the worst humiliation." She and her gang giggled (argh! so annoying!) and walked back to their seats.

Naruto was confused. "Sakura-chan? What deal is she talking about?"

She pressed her fingers to her temples in irritation. "Damn it, don't remind me. That deal was plain stupid. Stupid!"

The deal was made two weeks ago, on her second day at school. Before coming to Konoha, Sakura had a definite plan of action. It was her road to success. To be quick, it was like this:

Be nice, and (eventually) become idiot teachers' pet (a.k.a. baka sensei, Type 1).

Befriend and (eventually) lead brainless popular girls (a.k.a. bitches, Type 2).

Befriend and (eventually) go out with stupid popular guy (a.k.a. moron, Type 3).

These people were Type 1, Type 2, and Type 3 respectively. And so, following these guidelines (which weren't really needed anyway, since this _was_ a ninja school—only strength and intelligence were of importance), she made the biggest mistake yet.

It was free time when she asked Hinata the stupid question (actually, it was Kakashi's class, but it's considered free time anyway). Sakura was sitting beside Hinata and two guys whom she had introduced earlier.

_Inuzuka Kiba had rough looks with black hair and painted cheeks, and he was totally the opposite of Aburame Shino, who Sakura correctly assumed was a very quiet guy. He had shades on, so it was difficult to tell how good his looks were. All-in-all, they weren't bad, but they weren't for her either. Their desks weren't swamped with fangirls. When she looked around, no guy was being mobbed either. Was there no Type 3 in this class?_

"_Anou…Hinata-san…can I ask you something?"_

_Hinata looked quietly at her and nodded._

_This was embarrassing. "Well, I was wondering… Isn't there any guy here who's…uh…popular?"_

_Hinata looked thoughtful for a moment, then suddenly blushed. "Umm…Well, Naruto-kun is very popular in this school. Even students in the other years know him."_

_Sakura fought back a laugh. So Hinata had a crush on Naruto. Lucky guy. "Well…actually, I was asking for a different kind. You know…"_

_Her face was blank. "Know what?"_

_Sakura gave up and shook her head. This girl was impossibly dense. 'Never mind. Don't worry abou—"_

_A smooth girlish voice cut her off. "The guy you're looking for, he's not here. Though this _is_ his class."_

_The girl in the desk to the left was smirking. She was pretty, in sharp sort of way. Her blond hair was long and shiny, and it was pulled back to a ponytail. She also had a nice face and figure. Sakura assumed she was the worst enemy: Type 2 who likes Type 3. She was right._

"_And what would you want with Sasuke-kun?"_

'Sasuke_. So that's his name.' Sakura heard a small gasp from the girl beside her but ignored it. At present, she had to squeeze every bit of information from the blond girl._

_She grinned. "Oh, I don't know…Isn't it natural for a new student to ask around?"_

_Sakura assumed the girl would continue her game of subtlety. But she was surprised when the smirk left the blond's face and she walked up to their seats with her left eyebrow raised._

"_I'll be frank. I don't like girls like you. You're gonna say you like Sasuke-kun just because he's popular, even if you haven't seen him at all. Then you join those hordes of stupid bitches who say they like Sasuke-kun as well and follow him around the school. I hate it. Because of your kind, our love for Sasuke-kun is mocked. He thinks all girls are like you." She poked Sakura in the forehead, hard. "So I'm warning you now. If you don't want me as an enemy, then you better stop asking around for Sasuke-kun."_

_Sakura slapped her hand away and stood up, ignorant of the ears attuned their way. "That's pathetic. You're threatening me because you're threatened? What a joke. So what if I'm going to like this Sasuke-kun? Hmm…maybe I'll make him my boyfriend if I do."_

_Sakura meant to anger the girl, but was surprised—again—when she laughed out loud._

"_That is if you can find him. Sasuke-kun doesn't come to class, he doesn't need to." She grinned knowingly at Sakura. "What if we make a deal? If you can find him and confess to him within two weeks, I'll get off your case and admit you're sincere enough. But if you can't, you should give up on Sasuke-kun forever."_

_Sakura didn't trust her one bit. She wouldn't lose anything if she lost the deal (well, maybe her pride), but she may even get the guy if she won, without interference from the arrogant bitch. It was all too fishy, but there was no turning back. She'd be labeled a coward forever if she backed away from this one._

"_All right, it's a deal." She held out her hand for formality._

_The girl shook the outstretched hand, still grinning. "I'm Yamanaka Ino."_

"_Haruno Sakura."_

_Ino was feeling victorious. It was a win-win situation for her. Stupid bitch didn't know what she was walking into. "Don't think you can win easily, Shiny Forehead."_

_A vein appeared on the said forehead. "That's my line Ino-pig."_

_Irritated, the blond let go and went back to her seat. Sakura was still thinking about any consequences she might've missed when she felt a light tapping on her arm. She looked at Hinata, who was wearing a very worried expression._

"_What's wrong, Hinata-san?"_

_She was fidgeting uncontrollably and her eyes were darting from left to right. When she spoke, her voice was barely audible. "S-Sakura-san, y-you shouldn't go looking for Sasuke-kun. I-It's very hard to explain, but you m-might get hurt."_

_Sakura was touched. Hinata was concerned for her feelings. She didn't have to know that Sakura was only going to use him to get to the top spot in school popularity. But she could at least placate her new friend._

"_Don't worry! I'm a tough girl!" Sakura grinned at her._

"_No! You don't understand. I-it's not like that…" She stopped with a fierce glare from Kiba, whose look seemed to say "Don't get dragged in!"._

_Sakura shrugged and went off to daydream._

"Argh! Stupid! I knew I should've listened to Hinata-san!"

Sakura winced with the memory of her stupidity. So far, she'd had no success in finding _Sasuke-kun_. That Ino-pig must've been counting on this! All her inquiries to other students were all dead-ends. _Damn it._ Truth was, she didn't care anymore about the popularity thing. What she didn't want was Ino shoving her loss to her face. Her depression was replaced by aggravation as her earlier loss to Konohamaru was forgotten in light of the new dilemma.

Naruto watched the whole reminiscing with fascination. She'd gone from irritated to thoughtful to irritated in minutes and repeated the cycle almost five times. Now she was wincing and muttering to herself. It was cute.

Suddenly, the chalk was making noise against the blackboard and they both realized Kakashi-sensei had come in. Both decided to forget their problems for now and concentrate on what Kakashi was saying. After all, _Icha Icha_ Paradise was pretty interesting too.

* * *

She was early. He was always ahead of her. When the door opened, he'd be glaring at her for disturbing his peace, which she'd casually dismiss with a rolling-of-the-eyes. Then she'd leisurely stroll towards her end of the roof and sit down, watching everyone below with a smirk on her lips.

WAIT.

_Her_ end of the roof? _Smirk_ on her lips? Why the hell is he thinking like this? It was like some sort of fucking ceremony. And since _when_ did he get used to her presence here? It was only two weeks ago that she came up here and literally talked her way in.

But something was different with her today. She wasn't sitting and looking down on people, she was lying on the roof peacefully sleeping with her hands under her head. Sasuke decided that was good for him. She'd never quit talking if she was awake. Her yapping irritated him to no end. But luck wasn't on his side today. She stirred at the sound of his footsteps and woke up.

She yawned and straightened when she saw him. "Oh, you're here. I was just relaxing."

His glare was especially fierce with his realizations. "_Che_. I don't fucking care if you're sleeping or committing suicide. _Why_ are you still here?"

Her back stiffened. She just _knew_ this was the wrong place to relax. "If you don't want me here, then why don't you fucking buy the whole tower and write your whole fucking name in fucking capital letters on the fucking damn wall! If I see that, I'll back off. I can take a hint."

Sakura was punching herself mentally. Why did she always lose her control when she was talking to this jerk?

Sasuke almost smirked, but was careful to show no sign of it on his face. It was the first time a girl had talked back to him like that. She had guts; he had to give her that. But guts or no guts, this _was_ his tower.

"Go away and don't ever come back here. You'll regret it if you do." He stated grimly.

Sakura's brows rose. "Is that a threat?"

He turned his back on her, dismissing her. "I don't hand out threats. I only give facts."

Inner Sakura was ready to explode. 'JERK! Argh! Shit! I can't stand this anymore!'

And with one last look at the view, she entered the trapdoor and climbed down the tower.

* * *

The next day wasn't as distressing as the previous one. Miraculously, Ino wasn't bitching at her, and Sakura had sworn off climbing the clock tower so she wouldn't have to see that jerk ever again. All-in-all, the day was quite pleasant, despite the looming doomsday which was tomorrow. But all that changed when Kakashi entered the classroom that day.

His grin was enough warning that something unexpected was going to happen. And they were right.

"We're going to have a test today." He announced in his this-is-going-to-be-fun tone of voice.

Along with all the "Eeeeh!"s and "Aaaah!"s and "Oh no!"s and a few choice curses from Naruto and Kiba, a shrill whistle was heard.

Kakashi chuckled lightly, and a few seconds later, someone was opening the door to the classroom. At the entrance stood…The Jerk.

The teacher smirked beneath the mask. "That was fast, Sasuke."

Sakura was shocked speechless. 'OH MY GOD! _What the fucking hell have I gotten myself into?_'

Sasuke looked at the desks on the highest platform of the auditorium style classroom, where five people currently sat. "I was called quickly."

"Anyway, sit down." He turned to the whole class as Sasuke made his way to his seat. "Cheating is allowed, _if_ I don't see you. Let's begin."

* * *

The test wasn't hard, but Sakura didn't even manage to answer one question. She was so absorbed in her own thoughts the she didn't realize that time had already passed and the exam was over. When Hinata took her paper to pass to the front, she was surprised. There wasn't a single line that had an answer, even the name. Hinata thought it'd be best if she left that blank. Maybe Kakashi-sensei would think he just misplaced Sakura's test paper or something. But something was definitely wrong with her friend.

Sakura felt herself being watched, by none other than Ino, of course. She turned slowly to see that the blond girl was smirking. She probably thought Sakura wouldn't go for it because Sasuke looked so cold. But it had the opposite effect. This heightened Sakura's determination.

Inner Sakura was raging within. 'HELL YEAH! We won't lose to Ino-pig! Come on! Even if it's the jerk, we can pull this off!'

With new resolve, Sakura abruptly stood up, startling both Naruto and Hinata on each side. The shy girl grabbed her hand, knowing her purpose.

"S-Sakura-san, please, d-don't do this! I don't want you to get hurt!"

Sakura just smiled at her friend and started to walk towards Sasuke's desk. Hinata had no choice but to let her go.

"Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke looked up at the sound of the familiar voice. His brows creased when he saw her. "It's you."

Almost all pairs of ears in the classroom perked up at that statement. Even Ino stood up in surprise. She didn't count on Sasuke-kun knowing the forehead girl.

Sakura looked at him straight and blurted out her 'confession'.

"Sasuke-kun, I really like you. Would you go out with me?"

"WHAT?" Naruto fell off his seat in shock.

She almost sighed in relief. It was over. She'd said it. It didn't matter if he said yes or no. There was no way in hell she'd seriously think about going out with him, ever. The only important thing was she'd showed Ino and she'd won their deal.

"_You're annoying._"

She was suddenly looking at the coldest pair of red eyes she'd ever seen, and this time she shivered in fear. He was suddenly very angry.

Ino smirked. The girl was an idiot. That was the worst thing Sasuke-kun could say.

The five students in the highest platform of the classroom watched the exchange with interest.

"Oi, Tayuya, was it just me, or did I hear Sasuke-sama say the _magic words_?"

The addressed licked her lips in anticipation. "Hehehe. You _did_ hear him, Ukon. Poor bitch, _we all did_."

* * *

Jeez! This was supposed to be posted last Friday, but my stupid PC's floppy drive wouldn't work! So I'm really sorry for the long wait! And also, for some weird reason, it was _really_ hard to start writing this chapter. But thank God I've finished it (although it was already four in the morning when I finished this and had to retype it for five hours in another PC, I've got a sad life). Well, there aren't any particular jutsus that I have to explain in this chapter, but there are some Japanese words I've used. These are pretty common, but here are definitions anyway.

Naruto-_nii _– a shorter term for Onii-chan or Onii-san, which means big brother.

_Nee-san_ – a shorter term (well, not really that short) for Onee-san, which means big sister.

_Anou_ – umm…

Next up: Reviews! THANK YOU SO MUCH for all your support! I'm really glad you all like it! And so many people have given me really good compliments/comments! I love you all! Thanks to all who reviewed, and please review this chapter too!

**cuito **– Thanks! I will update regularly and if I don't, that means there's a _really_ good reason! Keep on reading, ok? Thanks!

**KRISTA** – Thanks! Please continue to review and inspire me more!

**yumi** – Thanks! That was such a nice thing to say! I promise I'll keep the fic interesting!

**hikari** – (authoress laughs) Thanks so much! You must have been more worried for this chapter's update because it took longer. I'll try to update faster!

**Search and Seek and Destroy** – Thanks! I never noticed it too, ShikaTem I mean, until I read Chapter 247 of the manga. Read it if you're curious. They're a really great-looking couple.

**joekool** – Hahahaha! Thanks! And yes, the final decision _is_ mine! Who's Sakura gonna end up with? That's a secret…for now.

**Hyzenthlay-shine dew fur** – Thanks! And yeah, I can't help but love Sasuke too! If I weren't such a fan of Sakura I'd pair him to myself! Niahahahaha! Just joking…

**neu chi no nai u** – Thanks! I hope you love this chapter too!

**AngelEyes-Shika** – Wow, thanks! (teary-eyed) And yes, this isn't considered a spoiler, but Gaara, Kankuro, Itachi, and Kisame will be in this fic! Please watch out for them!

**scorpion05** – Thanks! And I think Iruka's cute too! About that scene, I originally intended for Sakura to just meet Naruto in the hallway, but when I thought about it, this scene came up and I found it really cute and funny. So I just thought why not? Hehe…I'm glad you like it!

**sara-chan** – Thanks! Hehe… I don't know about the secret power thingie… but hehe… maybe…

**silverdeath01** – Thanks! I'm quite proud of this fic, so I'm happy that you love it! And… HELL YEAH! Sakura is so kick-ass here! Hehe… Of course, I'm the writer… Oh, and Sakura might seem a bit bitchy here, but it's all part of the story…

**EnkiduFish** – Thanks for the compliments! Thanks so much! (authoress weeps with happiness) I understand and I really want my plot to be different from others! Thanks!

**ice-firefly** – Hehe… I just said that this was NaruSakuSasu, and NO yaoi… Thick-skinned… Hehe… Joke! This person's a really close friend of mine. Thanks for the review! I'll try to make more cliffies, just for you… hehehehe…

**sisteena** – Waaaai! Thanks! Sisteena-chan _ga daisuki_! This gal is one of my closest pals, along with ice-firefly! And of course! Sasuke should be cool! (or should I say cold? hehe) Thanks again!

**animechickie** – Thanks! And you're right! It's not totally AU! That's because I loooove jutsus and fights and all! Thanks and please review this one too!

That's it for now! Till next time, _ja ne_!


	4. Weakness

Chapter 4**: Weakness**

He was scrunched up behind a cloth with the same color as the wall behind him.

Sakura sighed in frustration. Even a ninja-trainee at her level would have no problems trampling that pathetic excuse of a jutsu.

"Naruto!"

The blond immediately tore off the covering and jumped in front of her.

"Yes, Sakura-chan?"

God, _what_ was the point of hiding if he showed up at a call from her?

"Will you _please_ stop following me?"

'Please' meaning 'If you don't stop following me, I'll shove all your one hundred fucking bunshins up your sorry ass!' in Inner Sakura's language.

Naruto scratched his head. "Eh? I'm not following you, Sakura-chan! I'm going home the same way!"

"Nice try, smartass. But isn't your room _over there_?" Her finger pointed towards the second year dormitories as a vein popped simultaneously on her forehead.

Naruto grinned awkwardly. "Ehehe… Ah! I know! I've got to buy something at the convenience store!"

Sakura sighed in resignation. She knew it was pointless to argue with him and started walking towards the gate. Naruto would just avoid her questions with stupid answers. Maybe his reasons for following her were stupid as well.

"If you hadn't _hidden_ yourself and given me that pathetic excuse before saying that, I might've believed you, you know."

"I wasn't hiding! I was training!"

"Yeah right. Whatever."

Naruto gazed at her back with concern. That bastard. If he hadn't looked at her that way yesterday, he wouldn't have been this worried. Naruto had to make excuses for following her the whole day. And as if that didn't make things worse, the smirks and wily stares Sakura-chan was getting from the whole school was enough evidence that something was about to take place. And she wasn't oblivious to them either. Maybe that was why she was in an irritable mood today.

"_Che_. They can touch her over my dead body," Naruto muttered.

"Hmm? What is it, Naruto?"

He forced a grin and ran to keep up with her pace. "Nothing, Sakura-chan! Say, why don't we go on a date? I know a great ramen stand just by the train station!"

Sakura sighed for the nth time that day.

"Shut up."

* * *

A figure jumped over the buildings to the roof of the second year building, where four other shadowy figures were waiting.

"You're fucking late."

The fat figure scratched his head in rebuke. "Tayuya, you shouldn't speak such vulgar words."

"Shut up, Jiroubou."

The figure with black hair smirked at the two. "Sorry, I had to beat up some crap before getting here so I could get some of my more…violent tendencies out."

"Whatever. The boy is still tailing her, so we'll have to do it later. We don't need any fucking witnesses. Besides, beating up the stupid bitch tonight sounds great. She'll look like a rag doll once we're finished."

Ukon chuckled. "Why don't we toss a coin on who gets first dibs?"

"No, we can't. That won't be any fun for the last person. We may end up killing her."

Four eyebrows rose at that statement.

Tayuya grinned. "On second thought…"

* * *

"Ino-san!"

"Shut up, Hinata!" The blond girl turned around and pinned the girl with a cold stare.

"You know what will happen! It would be all your fault! Sakura-san doesn't have a clue!"

Ino crossed her arms and leaned against the wall of the staircase. At first, she was just mildly surprised when the shy girl asked her if they could have a private talk. But she was dumbfounded when Hinata started to ask her to help the forehead girl.

"Look, that bitch brought this on herself. You warned her, didn't you? But she didn't listen. Besides, if she wasn't so irritating, then Sasuke-kun wouldn't have said that."

Hinata was a bit discouraged. It was all true. She did warn Sakura-san, although she wasn't very specific with her warnings. It was always 'don't bother a _few people_' or 'you'll get hurt', which naturally didn't produce much fear within her. Also, Sasuke-kun learned not to say such things anymore to girls who confessed to him. It wasn't to alleviate the girls' pain, but for the simple reason that those girls didn't, or more appropriately, _couldn't_ show up at school the following week. She wondered what Sakura-san did to make Sasuke-kun that angry. But still, Sakura-san was a good friend to her, as well as to Naruto-kun. She had to do everything she could to prevent anything from happening to her.

"S-Sakura-san is a good person! She was clueless when she took on your bet. Please take some responsibility!"

Ino snorted, then turned serious. "Look, Hinata. I didn't intend for this to get so out of hand. But what happened yesterday is now between Sasuke-kun and Forehead. I only intended her to be humiliated when Sasuke-kun rejected her, but it seems they have an issue themselves that we don't know. It's best not to interfere. Didn't Kiba tell you that?"

Hinata nodded, but her pearl-colored eyes held more determination. "I have to help her. I don't want to see a friend beaten up anymore just because she confessed to someone she liked. I'm sorry to have bothered you." Hinata bowed to her and ran off.

Ino slapped her forehead as memories flashed inside her. What the hell.

* * *

"Naruto, I appreciate the ramen _and_ the offer, but I sure as hell can go home by myself."

Naruto creased his eyebrows in thought. "But Sakura-chan! You haven't told me where your house is! I wanna see it!"

The guy was a royal pain in the butt. Sakura had been trying—unsuccessfully—to get him to leave her, but no matter what she said, he had a ready excuse. She knew why he had been following her all day. She wasn't stupid. Ever since her _confession_ yesterday, no one had looked her in the eye. And although she had no Eye Bloodline Limit (a very interesting thing she learned about in chakra manipulation class a while ago), she wasn't oblivious to the stares aimed at her back. She had this ominous feeling that something bad was gonna happen, and she didn't want Naruto involved. She was scared shitless, but there were certain levels of pathetic one just doesn't sink to.

"_Geh_. I give up. Do what you want." She pointed to the convenience store beside the ramen stand they had just eaten in. "But before we go to my place, get me some meat. I wanna make sukiyaki for dinner tomorrow, and since we're here, you can pay for the meat too. I'll get the veggies on the other side of the counter."

"Eh! Sakura-chan, I don't have any more money!"

"Sheesh. Don't whine. It's irritating."

Oh no. Damn, this girl was fast depleting what little shit remained from his monthly budget. Naruto cursed himself for not thinking of a less expensive way to tail her. He'd have to work his ass off for Kakashi again to earn the next two weeks' allowance. Oh well, at least he could save some money off the meat if he bought the cheap ones.

Naruto scratched his head as they walked through the automatic doors leading inside the convenience store. "Ok. But you have to let me eat your sukiyaki tomorrow, ok?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

"Yey! Free dinner!" Naruto started skipping towards the meat section.

"Oi, Naruto! I'll kill you if you buy me cheap-ass meat!"

The blond fox-boy stopped dead in his tracks. Damn, he didn't know Sakura-chan was a mind-reader.

"Ehehe. Don't worry, Sakura-chan!"

'Sorry for tricking you, Naruto, but I can't let you get involved.' She looked at the figure happily trotting away, and silently exited the store.

* * *

"Damn. I hate this street. Doesn't this friggin' town have money to light their streets?"

Something was wrong. The skin at the back of her neck was tingling with dread. Sakura picked up her pace until she was almost running. The sooner she got out of there the better. But she knew her luck had run out when she saw two figures standing at the end of the street. When she looked back, three figures were steadily catching up to her, blocking the way she came. The pale short-haired guy in front of her was first to speak.

"Now, now, would 'ya look at that? Haven't had one this easy to find in a long time. Usually they squirm like mice under their parents' panties before we sniff 'em out. But here's one totally exposed for the kill. Hehehe." His tongue ran over dried, curled lips in anticipation.

The other four chuckled softly. The girl behind Sakura caressed her hair, and Sakura jerked away. She laughed aloud.

"Don't scare her, Sakon. We don't want her chickening out, or else it won't be any fun."

This was **BAD**. Judging from their movements, Sakura surmised they were ninjas, or ninja-trainees. Even if her ninja studies _were_ on-level, she'd have a hard time fighting off five fully trained and equipped ninja-trainees. But she wasn't, which made the situation all whole lot more stupid. The only thing she could do now was stall for time until she could come up with a plan to get out of there. Shit. Double shit.

Sakura backed against the wall to protect her rear. "Who are you! What do you want!"

"She's stalling." The skinny guy with the black hair spoke, looking at her with disgust. "But don't worry; we won't attack you all at once. That's not necessary."

"Hehe. Let her be. That's all she can do. But no one will come to help her. She knows that. Anyway," the girl with rough looks continued, now directing her gaze at Sakura, "that's fucking harsh. You don't know us? And we've been sharing the same classroom for two weeks now!"

"Tayuya, don't talk like that."

Sakura's eyes widened at Tayuya's statement. They were classmates! Then why the hell were they doing this to her! As far as she could remember, she'd done nothing to irritate anybody for the past two weeks—well, except Ino and her bitches, and Uchiha Sasuke, of course.

The guy who had the exact same looks as the guy who was called Sakon spoke. "You must be thinking of the reason why we're doing this. Why? Hmm, let me think…" He smirked at her. "Because the lives of bitches like you have no meaning in this world. You aren't even worthy of being in the same room as Sasuke-sama."

_Sasuke-sama_? So Uchiha Sasuke was involved in this? But there was no time to think about such trivial things when your life was in danger. Apparently, Tayuya had become bored with the conversation and started to walk in front of Sakura. The pink-haired girl was desperately trying to remember all the jutsus she had learned in her two pathetic weeks in ninja school. Turns out, there were only three, and a couple of practice sessions on kunai and shuriken throwing. Good thing she had her tools in her school bag.

'I have to attack first. I know some taijutsu, I can at least fight my way around them until I can get to the other side of the street. Then I'll run. It's better than nothing.'

She pulled six kunai out of the bag—three for each hand, and threw a kunai at each of the other four opponents, hoping to distract them. She started towards Tayuya and did a flip, attacking her in mid-air with the kunai on her right hand.

"That won't work!"

Sakura stopped in mid-air as her weapon was sandwiched between two of Tayuya's kunai. She flung the kunai on her free hand towards the opponent's chest. It hit.

"I did it!"

"Not in a million years."

Sakura's weapon was released as the smirking _kunoichi_ turned into white smoke. Sakura suddenly felt her opponent's weight on her as Tayuya reappeared on top of her head. Sakura landed face-down onto the ground. And disappeared with a resounding _poof_, revealing a small tree bark.

"So you can use _kawarimi no jutsu_, eh? But…" Tayuya caught Sakura's wrist as she tried to stab the former from behind, "that's not enough!"

CRACK.

"Eh? No scream?" She looked at Sakura, who had bitten her lip to keep from screaming. Blood was dripping from her lips to the ground.

"Aww, that's no fun!" She swung her foot backwards and hit Sakura's neck, sending her flying towards the wall.

Sakura could taste the blood. She really had no chance of winning from the start. They were really strong. Not to mention there were five of them. So this was how she was gonna end. What a sad, unproductive life. Naruto…

"_Che_. That's it? She's not even fun to beat up! Oi, Tayuya! You finish it! This is fucking boring. I'm going now." The black-haired guy disappeared, followed soon after by the other three guys.

"Fuck! They're leaving me to do all the dirty work! You!" She lifted Sakura by the collar of her shirt. "That half-ass crap you just pulled won't even dirty a single hair on my head. You're shit!"

She punched Sakura in the face. "Shit, 'ya hear me!" _Punch._ "You bitch!" _Punch._ "You're crap!" _Punch._ "Fucking loser!" _Punch._ "Don't _ever_ go near Sasuke-sama again!" _Punch._ "If you do, we'll kill you!"

"**STOP!"**

Tayuya's hand stopped just inches away from Sakura's face, then fell limp at her side. She released Sakura, and the girl fell to the ground. Hinata rushed to the girl to help her, and Ino stood in front of them.

"Yamanaka. Thought you didn't like helping rival bitches?"

Ino's hands balled to fists. "Shut up!"

"Whatever. The bitch must have gotten the point halfway through. I just couldn't hold back." Tayuya chuckled, and disappeared to follow the others.

Ino was mentally cursing herself right now. How could this have gotten so out-of-hand? Sakura was totally unrecognizable under all that blood and bruises. Her cheeks and lips were bloody and swollen, and she had a very painful-looking black eye. Even Ino didn't look like that after her _session_. Shit. And judging from Sakura's movements, she must have a few broken bones as well. Hell, it was a miracle the girl was still conscious, not to mention alive.

"What? We can't! Not with you like this!" Hinata exclaimed.

"What's the problem, Hinata?"

"Sakura-san, she…"

The battered girl was trying to stand up, although she was failing miserably.

"Oi, Forehead, what the hell are you trying to do!"

"Lea…b…me…a…done…"

"What kind of crap do you think we are? How the hell are we gonna leave you alone when you're like that!" The blond girl pointed to her face.

"Plea…se…lea…b…me…a…done…"

This time Sakura had managed to stand up, but was leaning heavily on the wall. Hinata tried to help her, but Sakura jerked away. It was at that moment that Ino understood.

"Please, Sakura-san, be reasonable. We have to get you to a doctor as fast as we can."

"Hinata… let's go. We're not needed here." Ino started walking towards the opposite direction.

Hinata ran after her. "But Ino-san! Sakura-san isn't in any condition to take care of herself! We can't just walk away!"

"All the more reason…that we have to go. I understand, because I felt the same once. She has to prove at least _that_ to herself. Men aren't the only ones whose pride can get hurt." She smiled sadly at Hinata. "Don't worry; I'm sure she'll survive. Didn't you see her eyes? A person can survive on willpower alone, you know."

"Yes, I understand. But still…" she looked back at the pink-haired girl, "it must really hurt."

* * *

**IT HURT LIKE FUCKING HELL**.

Every time Sakura tried to move her wrist, severe pain shot up to her head. Her spine must've cracked when she hit the wall, because it was stinging like hell, too. Not to mention the bruises on her face. Fuck, she must look like an oversized prune. She couldn't even speak properly. And she couldn't walk. After three (excruciating) attempts to stand up and walk only to find herself flat on her butt and feeling worse than ever, she had given up on mobility.

She was extremely stupid. Stupid _and_ weak. In the first place, if she hadn't left Naruto in the convenience store, she would've at least had one other companion. Maybe she wouldn't have been attacked. But that was wrong. Even though Naruto _was_ better than her ninja-wise, he couldn't have fought off all five of them. So maybe it was for the better that she was alone, and Naruto hadn't been involved.

Also, she never thought that Uchiha Sasuke was that brutal in his revenge. She didn't do anything to him that would cause that much damage. What a total asshole. Sakura couldn't help but feel disgusted. She was frustrated, hurt, and disgusted. But she couldn't cry. Now why was it that she wasn't crying her eyes out at this minute?

Damn. She was already feeling sleepy. Just waiting here and doing nothing (add to that the extent of her injuries) was making her sleepy. She had to at least look alive to the next passer-by so he'd help her. But her eyelids were getting heavy. Shit.

Long gray hair and glasses. Kind smile.

'Now that's what we're talking about.'

And Sakura promptly fell asleep.

* * *

Waaah! I'm SO SORRY for the super late update! My stupid PC still hasn't been fixed, and I'm really getting frustrated. But I still have this story's plot rolling in my head, so I'm sure this won't get boring as time passes by. Please review ok? I get all my inspiration from you guys! Thanks so much! I can't mention the reviewers one by one since I don't have time now, but I promise to make up for it in the next chapter. Till next time (which I hope will be soon enough)! 


	5. Devotion

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. There won't be any Sasuke if I did. He's mine, MINE! Niahahaha! Joke, peace.

* * *

Chapter 5: **Devotion**

Her eyes opened to the steady glare of the light coming from the ceiling bulb, and the feel of the soft mattress beneath her.

"Where—where am I?"

"Oh, you're awake?"

The sound of a door clicking shut and footsteps followed the kind voice. Sakura squinted to see who it was, and automatically tried to lift her right hand to block the glare. Then she remembered, and looked abruptly at her injured hand. It was tied with a bandage to a slab of wood, prohibiting movement.

The stranger put down a tray on the small table beside the bed. Sakura hoped to heaven that it held food; she was positively famished. She wondered how much time had passed since her beating, since she was full when she and Naruto left the ramen stand earlier that night. As she was mulling over it, the kind-mannered stranger had already moved to the foot of the bed and was watching her. He smiled.

"You received quite a beating back there. I wonder how pretty girls like you acquire such violent enemies." The way he said it was so casual and complementary, it was as if she'd managed a feat.

Sakura rolled her eyes and would have crossed her arms if the act wasn't excruciatingly painful at the moment. "I don't know either. You can ask them, though. Nicest and most accommodating bunch I've seen in years."

Her supposed savior laughed heartily at her gibe. She took this time to look him over. She guessed him to be in his early twenties, because his face looked too young to be a full-grown man, but too old to be a teenager. His shoulder-length gray hair was tied back, and his glasses were worn over clear blue eyes. She also remembered that kind smile from when he picked her up.

He stopped laughing, but was now sporting a knowing grin. "Now, if only we can stop exchanging friendly banter, we just might get to the part where I heal your injuries."

She looked incredulously at him. "You're a doctor?"

"Well, yes, I guess you could say that."

Sakura didn't know what to say to that, and just sat still and stared at him. The young man resumed speaking.

"Anyway, I assume your attackers were ninjas?"

Now she was confused. How did this guy know about them?

He suddenly realized his mistake and scratched his head. "Ah, don't worry, don't worry! I'm not a suspicious person. I'm Yakushi Kabuto." He reached for his pocket and pulled out a long blue cloth. In the center was a metal plate with the leaf crest of Konoha on the center, just like the ones Iruka and Kakashi wore over their foreheads. "See? So when I saw kunai scattered all around you back there, I guessed you must be from Konoha."

She was embarrassed at her stupidity. Of course he would've had to come from her school to know about them. "Thank you, and I'm sorry for imposing on you for so long. I'm Haruno Sakura, by the way."

He waved the apology aside. "Don't worry about it. Anyway, does your face still hurt?"

Her answer was an immediate no. Now that she thought about it, her face was the most battered of her body parts. But she didn't feel any pain now from speaking, and she could move her face muscles freely.

When she answered no, he nodded his approval. "Well, at least that's one less thing to worry about. I suppose you're hungry. I'll explain. I used chakra to heal your face first so that you wouldn't sustain permanent damage from what happened. But then, I had to preserve my own chakra for your broken wrist and fractured back, which would need considerably more chakra for regeneration. So I drained your chakra, and used it to heal your face. To regain chakra, one must regain his stamina. Your body is rested, but you've had no source of energy since passing out. That's why you're hungry."

Sakura digested this information with wide eyes and newfound enthusiasm. "So you can use chakra for healing? And you can drain others' chakra as well?"

"Well, that's neither here nor there." He replied mysteriously, smiling. "What you need right now is food to prepare you for the second step."

He reached for a bowl on the tray, which contained a greenish concoction she assumed was not ordinary soup. He scooped a spoonful and held it to her lips, and she swallowed. "I put something inside this that will give you maximum stamina to last an hour. After that, I hope you're well enough to eat sitting up on the bed."

Sakura almost choked on her soup. "_You hope?_"

"The whole duration of the healing process will be very strenuous. If your stamina can't keep up, then there's a possibility it will fail, and you die." Kabuto explained, still retaining that grin.

Inner Sakura exploded. _'Goddammit, don't grin like you're talking about the life of a cockroach! This is ME!'_

"But not to worry, there's only a one percent chance of that happening in this case." He continued shoving spoonfuls of soup down Sakura's throat, so the latter had no time to protest.

When the soup was all gone, he turned to her with a worried expression. "Well, there's another thing. I need strands of your hair, about two inches long. I'm going to try regenerating your bone cells, both in your arm and in your spine, but I need a catalyst that has to come from your body. May I cut it?"

Sakura gazed at the long pink hair tied together and resting on her left shoulder. She had spent so much time taking care of it so that it grew this long and pretty, because she thought being pretty and popular would bring her the success and recognition she had craved for for so long. But how will being pretty and popular benefit her now, when she couldn't even rely on herself to save her own ass? She had been looking down on people and using them for her benefit ever since she could remember, and look where that brought her now. Ugly and beaten and stupid and weak. Not even worth looking at. Not even worthy of a sincere friendship. _Not even worthy of Naruto._ What was the point of getting everybody's approval when it was she who hated herself the most?

Sakura fought the tears as she released the string tying her hair with her left hand and let it fall to her back. She eyed the knife Kabuto held.

"It's alright. But I'd like to cut it myself. Could you please hold onto it for me?"

Kabuto placed the knife on her hand and held her hair tightly. "That's fine, but I don't need much. Just a bit is fi— "

But to his surprise, Sakura had severed her hair just above her shoulders, and was now pointedly looking at the long pink tresses Kabuto held. "You can take as much as you need. I don't care anymore."

Her head felt so light now, since there was nothing holding it back. She had cared about everybody's opinion of her for so long that it was refreshing to at least make a change. Maybe it was also a sign that she wouldn't have to pretend anymore. How ironic. It took a lot of pain and ugliness to make her realize that what she had been working for, the façade that took her years to build, the mask she had been trying to wear since her parent's death, was worthless. Maybe she could start again, face Naruto with a brand new smile, show Hinata-san a real one, and become strong enough, physically and emotionally, to protect herself. Sakura smiled at the doctor, her first genuine smile to anybody other than Naruto.

He smiled back, and reached inside his pocket for a vial. He poured the contents to the glass of juice he had brought along with the soup and handed it to her. "Here, drink this. You'll have to sleep through the whole process, since it's really painful."

"Thank you. I'll find some way to repay your kindness, Kabuto-san. I promise," she replied, then emptied the glass. Seconds later she was out cold.

Kabuto smirked at the sleeping form on the bed.

"Oh, don't worry about that. _I'm pretty sure you will._"

* * *

'Not here. Not here! NOT HERE!' 

The thought had stayed with him all night since Sakura left him at the convenience store. Naruto had run around the city looking frantically for her, practically turning over garbage cans in every dark alley he spotted. Of course there was the possibility that she was at home already, sleeping peacefully, but he couldn't take any chances. He never realized how many people got beaten up every night in this god-forsaken city, until now. It seemed everyone was lying down on his face to the ground, except, of course, his Sakura-chan. Damn.

"Hey, Naruto! Is that you?" A high girly voice called him from behind.

Naruto turned to the two girls quickly coming up to him. "Eh? Ino-pig and Hinata? What are you doi—OOF!"

The blond girl threw her shoe at his face. "Don't call me pig!"

Hinata was back to twiddling her index fingers. "H-Hello Naruto-kun."

"Hello, Hinata. Sorry, I can't stay long. I'm looking for someone. See ya tomorrow at school!" He started to run towards the opposite direction, but Ino took hold of his shirt.

"You're looking for Fo—Haruno Sakura, right?"

He stared at her, wide-eyed, not knowing about the bet between her and the latter. "How'd you know? Have you seen her? Is she alright? Where is she?"

Ino and Hinata exchanged awkward glances, and Naruto smelled something fishy. "Hey, I asked you if you've seen Sakura-chan!"

Before Ino could deny it, Hinata answered him and pointed to the direction they came from. "We saw her, Naruto-kun. About two blocks away from here."

Naruto began to sprint towards that direction even before Hinata finished speaking, but the girl spoke again, this time in a surprisingly firm voice.

"She's not there anymore! We went back to check on her and she wasn't there anymore."

He stopped and looked back at the girl, dreading the worst. "Y-You mean…Sakura-chan…she…"

Her voice was soft again, but there was a determined gleam in her eyes as she stared at Naruto. "Yes, she was beaten. And pretty badly too. We know who did it…Naruto-kun!" She shouted as he recovered from his shock and quickly ran towards Sakura's direction.

"WHAT!"

'_If he ever makes that expression for me…'_

"Sakura-san _isn't there_ anymore. We found her almost unconscious, but she didn't want any help. She didn't even want to be brought to a hospital. So we left her, but soon her condition worried us. So we went back, but by that time, she had gone."

"_Why didn't you help her?_"

Ino answered for her. "Because, stupid, there's no way a girl would let anyone see her in such a condition, especially someone as obviously vain as Forehead. You wouldn't understand anyway so there's no point in explaining to you. What we're telling you is she's not there anymore and you're just wasting your time. If she can walk so far that we can't find her in the neighboring streets, then she must be taking care of herself pretty well."

Naruto punched the concrete wall and gritted his teeth in frustration. There was no way in hell he'd stop looking for Sakura now, not when he knew she was in such a bad condition. Damn, girls and their foolish ways.

Ino sighed audibly as Naruto took no heed and jumped from roof to roof to continue his search. It was going to be a waste of time. Forehead could be anywhere by now. Oh well, men and their idiotic ways.

'_Naruto-kun…'_

* * *

She awoke to the sounds of the curtains being pulled aside. Sunlight came in through the window in streaks of orange, blinding her, but Kabuto seemed undisturbed as he quietly faced the sun. 

"Oh, you're awake."

Sakura rubbed her eyes. "You keep saying the same thing to me."

He grinned. "And you're as cheeky as ever. Good morning. You should get up now, or you'll be late for school."

School? That's right. After last night, school seemed like a million light years away. But million light-years or not, she still had to go. Sakura sat up on the bed and noticed her right hand for the first time that morning.

Nothing came, not even a small sting. Sakura examined her right hand with interest. The swelling that the broken bone had caused was gone. Not only that, she could sit up without any difficulty and pain at all. The only remaining reminder of the beating she took was the yellowish-purple parts of her arm that were once broken and swollen. She guessed that her face might be the same too, yellowish-purple all over. Sakura assumed Kabuto didn't have enough chakra to finish the task. But she was grateful nonetheless. She was really lucky he found her, and healed her without any questions.

"How is it? Are you still hurt anywhere?" Kabuto asked her from the foot of the bed.

Sakura grinned at him. "No, quite the opposite, Kabuto-san. I feel great! Thank you."

"That's good. Sorry about the bruises. I couldn't erase them totally. They'll be gone for good tomorrow, I can assure you that." Kabuto handed her a mirror.

Sakura was relieved. The only parts of her face that were bruised were her right cheek and the left side of her forehead, and only a little reminder of the eyebag on her right eye was visible. At least her head wasn't oversized now. She didn't care anymore about anybody's opinions, but there was no harm in looking presentable, if not naturally pretty.

Inner Sakura was bubbling with excitement. 'Whatever. I'll just get it over with. LIKE HELL THIS'LL STOP ME!'

GROWL.

"Ahehe… Kabuto-san, is breakfast ready?"

* * *

It was just like yesterday. As soon as she walked inside the gates towards the second year building, students all around school had rushed to the sidelines to look at her. The only difference was the obvious sneers and snickers behind her back had completely morphed into blatantly stunned faces right in front of her. Sakura assumed they were surprised or even disgusted at the marks on her face and arm (which she really didn't care to hide, proof of the new resolution she had). Whispers were heard from all sides. 

"Look, that's Haruno Sakura…"

"Her hair's cut short…"

"Yeah, but she's fine…"

"Look, she only has those bruises, whereas the others…"

"Maybe she somehow escaped…"

"Defeated them, I should say…"

"They say she learns and thinks fast…"

"You really think so?"

"It's not fair, I had to take so much but she's not even roughed up…"

Each with their own opinion. But one exclamation drowned them all out.

"What the hell… _Haruno_?"

Familiar voice, familiar tone of voice. She was actually expecting this from Yamanaka—a sneer, even some scathing remarks about her and last night. Not that Sakura cared.

But every expectation Sakura had vanished into thin smoke when Ino suddenly grabbed her supposedly injured arm, paused, studied her face, and waited for any signal, anything at all that would tell her Sakura's arm was broken and painful. But there was only surprise in Sakura's green eyes, and the next minute she was dragging the poor girl towards the side overshadowed by the second year building, away from prying eyes and extended ears.

"_From what fuckin' planet did you come from?"_

Sakura just stared at her wide-eyed. "Huh?"

"I said, from what fucking planet did you come from? What the hell is this! _Are you made of steel?_ Why are you walking around like last night happened ten fucking years ago?"

So that was it. Pig was just surprised at her sudden revival from the dead. Sakura smirked. The look on Ino's face was priceless. "There's no rest for the wicked, Yamanaka."

Ino reddened with anger. "Don't joke with me! They beat the crap out of you the previous night and the next day you just waltz in here like some friggin' art mistake by a preschool kid! You even looked worse than I did after those bastards roughed me up! And _I_ had to stay at the hospital for a week to heal my injuries!"

Sakura shouted in frustration. "So you're angry that I'm alive and kicking after what happened last night? What do you want me to do then? Lie in bed for a week while those bastards gloat? No shit!"

Ino looked really angry, and somehow, underneath all that, she was also scared. "You don't know anything! If they see you walking around at school after that huge ass beating you took from them last night, they'll think you cheated them somehow and they'll follow you, hunt you down until they can corner you again and beat you up again. Or worse, everybody in this school will think you've somehow beaten them or escaped from them, and those shit-faced bastards won't take too kindly to that. The consequences will be harsher than you could ever imagine. _You want that?_"

In truth, Sakura hadn't thought of all that. Just thinking about last night's pain was enough to send chills down her (newly healed) spine, and Kabuto-san might not be there to save her again if they _do_ strike again. But there was no going back, she was already here. Everyone had seen her and it was only a matter of time before the news reached those five, and of course, their leader, Uchiha Sasuke. And besides, what was the point of running away now, after she'd made such a resolution? Sakura straightened herself, suppressing a shudder, and forced a grin on her face.

"I won't let them, Ino. Just wait and see. I'll be strong enough to be equals with them, and I'll protect myself."

"Stupid! Are you deaf? You can't grow stronger overnight, they'll—"

"SAKURA-CHAN!"

Naruto was running towards the conversing girls at top speed, not caring that he hadn't gotten any food or sleep over the past night looking for Sakura. It had been dreadful, with him imagining the worst that could possibly happen to her. He was just too relieved when the students had told him she was fine and was talking to Yamanaka that he wasted no time in coming here. And there she was, as pink and as graceful as ever, from a distance. As he neared them, however, he noticed the unmistakable bruises on her arm and face, and her hair was cut short too, although from his point of view she looked cuter in it. Naruto shook his head. This wasn't the time to be admiring her looks. He wanted to confirm her safety first.

Sakura shushed Ino as Naruto came near. It wouldn't do any good for him to get involved with what happened. She didn't want to put him in any kind of danger. She forced a smile and greeted Naruto as he paused in front of them, panting for breath.

"Hello, Naruto. Good morning."

"Ha…ha…Sakura…chan…ha…are…you…all…right? Ha…ha…"

"What are you talking about? Of course I'm fine!" Her voice sounded suspicious even to her.

Naruto took a deep breath and paused for a minute. Then he suddenly snatched her right arm. "If you're fine, then what are these? And what are those on your face? And who cut your hair?"

Sakura let him inspect her arm so as to avoid more suspicion. "I slipped and fell this morning. Those are nothing. They don't even hurt." That was true. They were just plain colors on her arm and face, no pain at all. Kabuto had seen to that. "And do you like the hair? I thought my previous hairstyle was slowing me down so I had my hair cut."

Naruto bowed his head, let go of her arm, and slowly raised his hands all the way up to her shoulders, his fingers caressing the ends of her hair. Ino realized that it was as good a time as any to get out of there, and took off. Sakura, on the other hand, relaxed greatly when Naruto seemed to accept her excuse. She closed her eyes and breathed a sigh of relief, though a bit uncomfortable with the close proximity.

"DON'T LIE TO ME!"

Suddenly, she was being crushed onto him in a powerful bear-hug. Naruto had his arms around her back and his head buried between her neck and shoulder.

"I was really worried. Why do you have to lie?" His voice was a bit muffled by her skin.

"H-How did you know?"

If it was possible, she was being hugged tighter. "I met Hinata and Ino last night. They told me you were half dead when they left you. Then when they came back, you were gone. Just gone. You weren't anywhere. I was so damn sick to my stomach with worry. Please. Don't ever do that again. I can accept anything. Just don't lie. _Kuso_." Naruto's voice was cracking with every sentence.

Listening to that, Sakura had never felt so guilty in her life. Here was this guy, her most sincere friend, a guy who had probably shaved off ten years of his life looking for her last night, sick with worry. And here she was, giving him the most pathetic of excuses, didn't even think twice about lying to him. How pathetic she was.

"I'm sorry."

Then suddenly her arms were moving by themselves, wrapping themselves around Naruto's taller and bulkier form, hugging him back. After a few seconds his grip on her loosened, and he relaxed, still embracing her. Then after a few minutes, he was muttering incoherent words to her neck.

"What?"

"Su…ya…"

"I can't hear you, Naruto."

"Su…ki…ya…ki."

A giggle escaped from her lips. "I did promise you that, didn't I? _Yoshi._ Let's eat sukiyaki for dinner tonight at my apartment."

He spoke, the words still muffled, but she could make them out.

"I still have the meat."

"You should, I specifically told you to go buy them."

"They're not cheap."

Sakura grinned.

* * *

She was going to wait for him at the gates, since her last class was with the freshmen and his was with the juniors. Naruto didn't think twice about taking his time to do what he wanted to do right now: _crush the bastard's face to pieces_. It was high time he got what he deserved. Naruto approached the black-haired youth and slammed his palm on his table, getting everyone's attention. 

"Uchiha, I wanna talk. In private."

Pitch-black eyes glared at him. "I don't care. I have no time to fool around with you."

"Don't underestimate me. I can drag you out of here easy if I need to." He pointed to the exit with his thumb. "I wanna talk to you. In private."

Sasuke was late. It was almost sunset; the time of day when he was most hostile. If anything, he knew what Naruto wanted to talk to him about. The bitch. She definitely wasn't worth the time he would be wasting talking to this moron, but some part of him wanted to show this idiot the consequences of messing with an Uchiha. Besides, he mused, the whole school might need reminding, and he could use this as an example.

"Fine. But make this worth my time. If not," Naruto was faced with incredibly angry blood-red eyes, "**I'll kill you.**"

* * *

Ok! I had fun writing this chapter! (Author jumps around in happiness) And this was done a lot faster than the last chapter. Anyway, I'm clearing things up. To many of you, this may be a NaruSaku fluff chapter, which I don't agree with or deny (although I _really_ had fun writing that part). But the story _is_ still in its first stages, and the triangle is still up. NaruSakuSasu. Also, this is a bit unexpected, but I'm thinking of putting someone else into that triangle. Can you guess who it is? I'll reveal that person in the next chapter… 

Next are the terms and techniques:

_Kawarimi no jutsu_ – Body Switch technique (forgot to put this in the previous chappie). Basically the shinobi switch their bodies with another object so as to evade the attack of the opponent and at the same time confuse them. One of the most basic shinobi techniques.

_Kuso_ – shorter version of _Chikuso_ which means "Damn!" or "Damn it!" (or at least that's the closest meaning I know). I imagined Naruto's voice cracking and saying that and it just sounded so cuuuuute! And so I put that instead of its English counterpart.

_Yoshi_ – "All right!" Same reason as before, it sounds better.

Next, reviews:

**DarkHercules** - I'm addressing you first because I feel you brought up some pretty good points. Firstly, why we like Sasuke. **_Just because._** I respect your opinion and I too like Naruto very much (if I didn't I wouldn't be writing this fic in the first place). This site is a place where open exchange of ideas is encouraged, and this goes for opinions, likes, and dislikes as well. I respect your dislike for Sasuke, but you can't go telling people to dislike him just because you do. Each of us has our own reasons. If you can't respect that, then I'm sure I'd never want to know you.Secondly, about your impression of Naruto being an irritating idiot in this story. I'm sorry if that was the impression you got, but you totally missed my point. If it was the narration you had a problem with, please remember that I was writing as the omniscient 3rd person, reflecting the characters' thoughts, whether it be Kakashi, Sakura, or Iruka. If your impression came from the way he acts in this story, I'm telling you now that it's completely wrong. I have never thought of Naruto as an idiot, and I have no intention of writing him as one. It's just that this would be a boring story if everybody (or in this case, Naruto) would just come out super cool and all and there wouldn't be any character development at all. So there. Thanks for taking the time to review and I'm happy that you reviewed, so I was made aware of that problem and was able to clear it. Please continue to read and review. Thanks again!

**alaine** - Thanks! Your wish is my command. Here's chapter 5!

**Motokonobaka** - Thanks! Here's another update, I hope you like this too.

**Ayumi-Aldaba** - Thanks! Hope you enjoy this and keep reading and reviewing!

**charl** - Thanks! I **will** continue updating, for me and for you guys.

**Ries** - Thanks, I'm glad you think that.

**Makokam** - Thanks! Love Hina's plot is good but I'd want the characters to have better development with what I have right now.

**yin vs yang** - Thanks, I will!

**Kitsune-nin - **Thanks! And Neji and Tenten will be appearing (if I'm accurate) at around the seventh or eighth chapters. (Did I just give a clue?)

**neu chi no nai u** - Thanks, I hope you like this one as well!

**DarkWingedAngelMairiel** - Thanks! And yeah, poor Sakura-chan, but as you can see in this chappie, it **had** to happen.

**BaBy-U-AmaZe-Me** - Thanks! And here, I hope what happened in this chappie satisfied you.

**Rel** - Thanks! And I'm so happy you think it's awesome!

**Shinobi Darkbeak** - Thanks! I'll try to update faster, since it's sem break.

**AnimeSenko** - Great guess! Thanks!

**icefirefly** - Thanks. Yeah, you know me better than that.

**sisteena** - Thanks! And I think you already knew that it was Kabuto! Hahaha!

Anyway, it's already 5:00 AM, and I haven't slept yet. I need to sleep. I had this sudden inspiration to finish this chapter. Please read and review guys! I want to know what you think about this story so far…


	6. Determination

**Chapter 6: Determination**

"He's late."

Sakura was currently waiting for Naruto at the gates of Konoha Gakuen, since her last class was with the first years. She didn't regret having invited Naruto over to her house for dinner, and didn't do that just to simply shut him up earlier that day. In fact, after last night's incident, Sakura was truly happy to have company at dinner tonight. She hadn't had time to spend with her childhood friend these past two weeks they'd been reunited, but she planned to change all that. Her change of looks wasn't just a physical thing, with it came the realization of the importance of what she had right now, and how to strengthen that. She didn't want to pretend to be someone else anymore; she was determined to make everyone accept her for who she really was. Right now, as well as getting physically, emotionally, and mentally stronger, her friendship with Naruto was among her priorities.

"Sakura-san! It's terrible!"

Hinata was sprinting towards her direction at top speed. The look on her face told Sakura that she was bringing bad news, as if this day wasn't enough. True to Ino's word, everyone had been frustrating the hell out of her the whole day. The shy part of their school population had been covertly stealing glances at her and whispering behind her back, while the more aggressive ones were openly pointing and gawking at her, some even going so far as to drop some very annoying comments along the way. Sentences along the lines of "Hi Haruno, you look great! Is that natural?" and "Hey, I think that color suits you!" had been reverberating in the hallways when she had to switch classrooms. To top it all off, the five people who beat her up last night were nowhere to be found. It was as if they'd been deliberately scaring her by not letting her know their reactions at her apparently healthy reappearance.

Sakura caught the shoulders of the panting girl before she collapsed face first onto the ground. "Hey, calm down. Breathe. There. _Now_ you can tell me what happened."

Hinata gripped Sakura's arms for support. "There's no time! You have to stop them! They're seriously fighting each other at the soccer field! And he's wounded!"

"What? Who's fighting who? Who's hurt?"

"Naruto-kun and Sasuke-san!"

* * *

The soccer field of Konoha High was made to accommodate a large audience to watch comfortably from their seats. Currently, that description was fitting for the growing number of students watching not a soccer game, but a deadly match of two second years. Fangirls had started to claim a part of the audience seats to wave banners and scream "SASUKE-KUN!" at the top of their shrilly voices, not caring about the fact that this match was by far the most rule-breaking fight they had ever seen in school. Sasuke-kun was beating the unknown opponent's ass and being cool, and _that_, the fangirls thought, was that.

When Sakura arrived at the scene, Naruto had taken a slightly severe gash with his arm, and blood was dangerously covering part of the grass where he stood poised for an attack. Sasuke, on the other hand, was showing no signs of blood loss, but a twitch of his left eye indicated that he was suffering from a bit of pain from the surprising blow Naruto had delivered to his stomach earlier.

"Kuso Yaro!_ I won't forgive you! Sakura-chan never did anything to you! She just made the mistake of liking your arrogant ass!"_

_Sasuke dodged the punches and kicks from all twenty Narutos going at him from all angles. With the Sharingan, it was easy to predict all movements of his opponent and his bunshin, while eliminating them one-by-one. In truth, Sasuke was startled at first, Naruto had always been goofing off in class (or at least the ones Sasuke had gone to), and didn't seem the type to have any significant skill at all. He was annoyed that the blond had the gall to challenge him_, _but there was no point in getting serious for a ninja that petty._

_Naruto, on the contrary, was too angry not to fight seriously. So far, he had received four blows already, while the jerk had deflected everything he and his bunshin were throwing at him. The asshole would definitely be expecting a hit from the real him from the back, he had so little respect for ninjas with skills inferior to his. Naruto did the seals for Kage Bunshin no Jutsu again, this time only five appeared and scattered around Sasuke._

_Sasuke dodged to his right and caught the arm of a bunshin, and twisting it around, threw him to the ground. He did a back flip, deftly avoiding the foot that would have tripped him, and with his hand on the ground, twisted his body and kicked the bunshin from behind. The other four Narutos were coming to attack him, two from behind and two from the left. Sasuke punched the stomachs of both bunshin from the left, and grabbing both collars, hurled them at the other two. They dodged, and the real Naruto hurled the last bushin at him in the same fashion. Sasuke smirked, and greeted the bunshin with a punch to the face, turning it to puffs of smoke. What he didn't expect was the real Naruto to show up in front of him with a speed that matched his, and the knee that came straight to his gut._

_It was Naruto's turn to smirk. "You better not think I'm no match for you, or else you won't live past dinner. I'll let you go if you promise to apologize to Sakura-chan. Or better yet, I don't want to see your ugly face anywhere near hers."_

_Uchiha Sasuke went to school, tolerated teachers, and hell, even endured fangirls, but he DID NOT apologize to anybody. He stood up to his full height, schooled his expression, and glared at Naruto._

"_Shut the hell up. I'm not the one with blood on my lips."_

_Naruto wiped the said blood with his jacket sleeve, and joined the glaring contest. "Don't think you can win easily, bastard. I'm not even half as tired as you are, though I wouldn't expect you to have as much stamina, not with being treated like a princess wherever you go. Right_, **_Sasuke-_chan**?_"_

_That did it. No one, absolutely **no one**, taunted Uchiha Sasuke and lived to tell about it. Mentally cursing all the rules to hell, Sasuke pulled out a kunai from his leg holster, extracting both worried and excited gasps from the spectators. Naruto, in response, pulled a kunai out as well. A fight didn't go against school rules, just as long as there was an issued challenge, verbal or written. But the use of jutsus and weapons were strictly prohibited, unless sanctioned by a faculty member presiding over the match._

_It was a long, grueling wait for the onlookers, though only seconds had passed. Although it looked like the Uchiha prodigy was clearly at an advantage, that surprising blow the blond had delivered had shaken the predicted conclusion of this fight. Everyone was waiting to see who seized first blood, literally._

_In a split-second, they were gone. The sounds of kunais clashing, the occasional sparks caused by metal scraping metal, and the constantly moving blurs were the only indicators of the fighters' whereabouts. Both moved with a speed that rivaled even the teachers', and the students were left to guess on what was happening. But one pair of pearl-white eyes had been following their every move clearly and easily, as though they were moving in slow-motion. The smirk beneath those eyes was unmistakable._

_At last, after what seemed like hours, which in reality were only a few seconds, they stopped in a seeming struggle. Sasuke's kunai, now bloody, had taken quite a trip down the side of Naruto's left arm and was embedded deep. His other hand was holding off Naruto's, the blond's weapon poised dangerously near his neck. Sasuke pivoted off his left foot, kicked Naruto in the face, and sent him flying. Despite the wound, Naruto had broken the fall, and now stood face-to-face with his opponent._

"**STOP IT!**"

Sakura was definitely NOT pleased with this sudden turn of events. She examined Naruto from afar. Though she had not seen most of the fight, only that last kick, it didn't take a doctorate degree in medicine for her to surmise that Naruto was quickly losing stamina from loss of blood. Sasuke, on the other hand, looked ready to kill. Vaguely aware of the various suspicious looks from the rest of the audience, she made her way to them. Naruto's voice stopped her a few ways off.

He didn't look at her when he spoke. "Don't come here, Sakura-chan! This is between me and this bastard. He's got to pay for what he did to you!"

Sakura gritted her teeth in frustration. "Don't be such an idiot! You shouldn't do this! Besides, **I'm** the one who should be handling this, not you! What happened is NONE of your business! So let's go!"

This time, Naruto _did_ look at her, though his eyes showed a lot of disappointment. "Don't tell me you still like him after all that!"

Sakura colored with embarrassment. She didn't actually like Sasuke, but what was the point of denying it when only the other day she had practically thrown herself at him? Besides, she had hoped that the fact that she had confessed to Sasuke would eventually die down with time, since she wasn't planning on furthering her "advances" on him.

Sasuke didn't like being ignored, and he could've been a piece of buttered toast for all the attention they gave while talking about him. Before Sakura could retort, he cut her off.

"I don't give a damn about whatever your problems are. You," he glared at Naruto, "asked for a fight. And you," this time the piercing red glare was on Sakura, "get out of here if you value that little neck of yours. You're really annoying me."

Naruto took offense and grew angry at his words, readying his kunai for another attack. Sasuke smirked and followed suit. Both had started to run towards each other when a flash of pink came in between them, hands outstretched. Sakura was facing Naruto with her back to Sasuke, her mouth set in grim determination. But it was too late to brake for both of them, and realizing that, both had let go of their weapons. Then a loud thud was heard.

Sakura grimaced, still in pain from the impact. As they both collided with her at the same time, all three bodies were left standing up. Sasuke quickly regained his balance, while Sakura was holding on to Naruto's shoulders for support.

**SLAP!**

Sakura's hand was fast imprinting itself on Naruto's cheek. In an instant she took his right arm and was pulling him towards the direction of the second year building's infirmary. Naruto, still in a daze, couldn't utter a single word of protest.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Sakura stopped dead at the sound of the cold voice, and slowly turned around to face Sasuke. He had, in contrast to his words, reverted his eyes back to their original black, signaling that although irritated at her interference, he too assumed the fight finished.

Sakura didn't answer. Instead, gazing at him with a blank, almost quizzical look in her green eyes, she bowed low to him. Then pivoting on her heel, she took Naruto's arm again and proceeded to the infirmary.

* * *

"Ah, the power of youth! We must try to do something like that once in a while, eh? The excitement of such a battle is still unknown to us!"

The lean figure in the green jumpsuit was punching and kicking the air excitedly. The previous match at the soccer field had aroused the whole school's interest. Even now, while going home, the students had talked about nothing else.

The girl with her hair in buns laughed out loud. "Whatever. Just don't expect me to come between you guys screaming 'Stop it!' at the top of my lungs."

"But I thought it was noble of her! Although, truth be told, I would not want anyone spoiling our fight." He lightly jabbed the guy between him and the girl with his elbow. "Right?"

"I don't participate in petty fights. Those are only for losers." Indifference marked his handsome features, but the pearl-white eyes could not hide the interest in the strength he had seen a while ago.

His interest was not lost on the girl beside him, but she sighed in resignation and gave him a slight smile. "You shouldn't say things you don't mean, Neji."

* * *

"**OUCH!**"

Sakura pressed the wet cloth to the wound, cleaning the surrounding areas where blood had dried off.

"Don't 'ouch!' me! This is entirely your fault! Take it like a man!"

"But it hurts! You're not being gentle at all, Sakura-chan! Besides, I wanted the bastard to pay for what he did to you."

"Of course it hurts, you moron! There's a wound on your arm that's three inches long and a half-inch deep! If this was regular treatment, then this would have had thirteen stitches on it right now. It's got nothing to do with my being gentle. And you've got _nothing_ to do with what happened to me. End of story."

"Wow, Sakura-chan! You sounded just like a doctor! You'd make a really good medic-nin!"

Sakura's eyes widened and she stopped cleaning Naruto's wound. She had only repeated what the medic in the infirmary had told her, but Naruto's offhand remark had sparked an idea. When she resumed wiping the fox boy's arm, she had a wisp of a smile on her mouth.

The door opened and admitted the medic. She smiled warmly at Sakura's effort. "Oh, you're done! Thanks for wiping his arm. We'll just need to clean the inside of the wound, then I can clot his blood with chakra so that he won't need stitching. By the way," she turned to Naruto with a disapproving look, "you are to go to the faculty office after treatment. Kakashi-sensei wants to talk to you."

This was what Sakura was afraid of. Their actions obviously wouldn't go unpunished, and she was worried for her friend. She was silent all the way to the teachers' lounge, while Naruto chatted incessantly beside her.

"You know, Sakura-chan, you don't have to go with me to see Kakashi-sensei. You can go home and rest."

Sakura sighed audibly. "Shut up. If you hadn't acted so macho today, then we would have been eating our dinner right now with no problems." As if on cue, her stomach started grumbling its protest.

"You see? You're hungry. I'm starving too, actually, after using that much chakra earlier. You should go home and prepare our dinner. I'll follow you after I talk with Kakashi-sensei, ok?"

"I'm not going to prepare that much by myself. Since it's _your_ dinner too, you should help."

That was an excuse. Sakura wouldn't have any problems if she was going feed an entire army, she loved to cook. But she didn't want to leave; she was anxious about what punishment her friend was going to face. After all, she was partially to blame for what happened.

Naruto put an arm around her shoulders—a natural gesture for him, but one she had only just grown accustomed to. "Hey, I'm sorry for dragging you into this mess. To make up for letting you cook dinner on your own, I'll wash the dirty dishes after we eat."

Sakura didn't answer, since they were already in front of the faculty office. Before she could knock on the door, however, it had opened by itself, and out came Sasuke. He eyed the both of them for a good ten seconds (Sakura had been counting), his glare lingering slightly on Naruto's arm around her shoulders (maybe she had just imagined it), and started walking away.

Kakashi had appeared on the same spot Sasuke had vacated earlier. "Oi, don't cramp the door. Naruto, you come in here. Sakura, you should go home, it's already starting to get dark."

As much as she'd have liked to protest, Sakura only nodded and started to walk away after saying goodbye to Naruto. Lost in her thoughts, she didn't notice until a few seconds later that another figure had been walking beside her to the school gates. Sakura stopped and stared surprised at Sasuke; he paused beside her, and stared back.

She resisted the urge to move backwards and put more distance between them, he was too close for her comfort...and safety. Instead, she coolly raised an eyebrow.

"Is there anything you'd like to say to me?"

He continued to stare at her without saying anything. Sakura decided that he was a man of few words, _very_ few words, and that she had had enough. If he wanted to stand there looking like an idiot, then she wouldn't stop him. Sakura picked up her pace, determined to leave him. She wasn't surprised to see Sasuke keeping up with her, silent as ever, and irritating as ever. Sakura sighed inwardly, and as they passed the gates of Konoha, decided to ignore him.

It came as a surprise then, when he spoke after a few uneasy minutes.

"Why did you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Faced him when you stopped us."

Comprehension dawned on Sakura. Along with the feeling that this talk was only for his ego, she thought that this was the first time they had ever had a decent civilized conversation. "You mean turned my back on you?"

Sasuke didn't like it put that way, but nevertheless grunted his yes.

Sakura wanted to laugh, but didn't risk life and limb by doing so. "It's not because I thought you weaker than he was. I just didn't want to take any chances, and if Naruto had hurt you seriously, then he would have been in very serious trouble, like I'm sure you're in right now. I'm partially responsible for what happened, though your stupid intrinsic desires to butt heads can hardly be attributed to me."

That was the truth, but only half of it. She had moved naturally, without thought of consequence. Besides that, she didn't want Naruto to think she was protecting him from Sasuke. It would have shattered his pride, especially in his condition a while ago.

Sasuke had actually expected a different answer, one along the lines of "I won't forgive him if he hurts a hair on your head, Sasuke-kun!". But this girl, since their first chance meeting at the top of the clock tower, to her astonishing confession the other day, had never been predictable. There was one other nagging question in his mind.

"What happened?"

Sakura wasn't a mind reader, but they both knew what he was talking about. What nerve! It was supposed to be _her_ asking that question.

"Why are you asking me that? Wouldn't you know better? I just had the worst beating of my life last night and I don't even know why it happened."

So she really _was_ beaten. But she didn't look battered, save for the fast fading bruises on her face and arms, and in fact looked better off than the others he'd seen. It was either she knew medical jutsu, or someone had done it for her. It was probably the latter.

Sasuke had been brooding for some time now, and Sakura took that as a sign of guilt. She spoke with a lot of sarcasm and finality.

"Look, we shouldn't be seen like this. Your followers might take it the wrong way, as well as your fan club."

With that, she took off for her apartment. To her relief, Sasuke didn't try to follow. After walking a few blocks, however, she recalled with a sinking feeling that it was Naruto who had the meat.

* * *

"Look, I'm happy but...why ramen?"

"Shut up, it's take-out. And just in case you'd forgotten, _you_ had the meat."

Naruto's brows shot up as comprehension dawned. "Oh yeah! I knew I was forgetting something! Hehe, sorry, Sakura-chan!"

Sakura ignored the apology. "Never mind that, what happened? I'm dying to know."

"Nothing."

"Naruto..."

The fox boy raised his hands in defense. "Look, I'm not lying, ok? Nothing happened. Kakashi just told me to stay for detention tomorrow to clean the classroom. That's it."

"Then you're off the hook, just like that?"

"I think so. And it seems that bastard Uchiha Sasuke's the same. I thought you might like to know."

She didn't, and gave Naruto a puzzled look. "Oh. Okay."

"Anyway, since we didn't get to have sukiyaki today, let's get together on Saturday! Everyone's planning to go to the arcade, I'm sure you're going to enjoy it!"

Sakura laughed. "One's got nothing to do with the other. As much as I'd like to go, I can't. Sorry, Naruto."

He pouted. "Why? Do you have anything to do on Saturday?"

"I'm going to work on an idea, and it's going to take the better part of my weekend." Hell, what was she saying? Her _new idea_ was going to take the better part of her whole life.

He looked mighty disappointed, but shrugged it off. "Alright. Call me if you change your mind." When he stood up to clear the table, Sakura turned to stop him.

"The dishes are on me. I didn't cook, remember?"

"But you paid for dinner."

"As you did yesterday, so we're even."

After a few moments of hesitation, Naruto agreed. "Okay. Then I'm going now."

When they reached the door, she kissed Naruto's cheek, on the side she had slapped earlier.

"Good night."

* * *

"Sasuke-sama! This is a sur—" Ukon's speech was cut off with a blow to the face.

The noise alerted the other four. No one knew of their hideout. "Fuck! Ukon! Who is it? Intruders?"

Tayuya had spoken first, and the four lifted their gazes from Ukon's sprawled body to his attacker. "Sasuke-sama?"

"Who did it?" The dangerously cold voice sent shivers down their spines.

They knew what he was talking about, but hadn't expected him to be this angry. Tayuya owned up, since she knew he didn't like waiting. "I did. But—"

She was cut off by Sasuke's grip on her neck. He lifted her and glared menacingly at the other three still standing. "I told you to mind your own business. Are you willing to pay with your lives now?" His grip tightened on Tayuya's neck, and she gasped for lack of air.

As much as they wanted to, they didn't move to stop him. They couldn't. This was the only time they had ever seen him angry enough to kill them. When he had heard a few months ago that they had been beating up his annoying admirers, he had only warned them to mind their own business. They had acquiesced, but didn't bother telling anyone about it. Until the other day, no one had approached Sasuke again.

Without preamble, Kidoumaru kneeled in front of him and bowed low. "We are very sorry, Sasuke-sama. This will not happen again."

Sasuke hurled Tayuya at them, and Jiroubo caught her easily. "See that it doesn't. I don't care what you do, but don't drag my name into it."

Sasuke had left them deathly silent even after he went. Tayuya cursed loudly. "This is all fucked up! He's a little stronger than us and he thinks he's king of the world! Who chose him in the first place?"

Sakon gritted his teeth. "We can't do anything unless _he_ tells us it's time."

"Then I'm right on time after all."

They all turned to the figure at the opened door. The figure smirked, his glasses glinting in the reflected light.

"Orochimaru-sama sends his regards. You don't need to play school anymore, he said."

The addressed five exchanged malicious grins.

* * *

The news spread through the school like wildfire, especially among the Uchiha Sasuke fangirls. The "Gang", as they had dispassionately called those five, had dropped out of school. This, and the fact that Haruno Sakura had come to school yesterday with only bruises, had only meant one thing to them.

If the previous day was frustrating to Sakura, today was fast becoming its rival. But instead of the suspicious looks and jeers she had experienced yesterday, smiles and the occasional pat on the back were their counterparts today. And she had no idea in hell why, so she asked the one person she thought would give her a straight answer.

"Hey Ino, why the hell am I now the appreciated celebrity?"

Having been at the scene when she was beaten, Ino was as puzzled as her. "The five people who beat you up, they're gone. Somebody heard the faculty talking about it and spread it around." She gave Sakura a sympathetic smile. "The whole school thinks _you_ beat them up."

Sakura laughed, her first natural reaction to the utterly ridiculous notion. A novice beating up five trained nins? Not bloody likely. But she was proven wrong when at dismissal, some first-year girls walked up to her in the hallway, handing out cookies.

"Here, Sakura-sempai. We made these in Home Ec. Please accept these as a thank you."

Sakura accepted the cookies out of courtesy, even as she was confused. "Why do you need to thank me?"

"Because of you we can now tell Sasuke-kun we like him!" The girls giggled, and left an even more confused Sakura.

"Sasuke! Of course! He could've told off those five. But that would mean he didn't order me beaten. Come to think of it, those five never said so, I just assumed as much! Oh no!"

She cringed in embarrassment. Everything that had transpired yesterday had been completely meaningless. Sasuke was innocent!

Naruto hopped towards her direction. "Sakura-chan! Sorry for making you wait! I still have to clean the classroom so I can only accompany you to the gates. What are you mumbling about?"

"N-nothing."

Naruto shrugged, and walked with her towards the gate. "I can't believe the crap they're spouting. How could you beat up five trained nins with just two weeks of training? Even if you _are_ a genius, it's practically impossible."

Sakura was itching to go. "Sorry, Naruto, I've got to go. See you on Monday!"

She had to apologize. Sakura ran towards the clock tower and climbed it with a speed that at any other time would have made her proud. But she was disappointed when she reached the top. Sasuke wasn't here, nor was he anywhere within school grounds, as Sakura soon learned.

Dejected and tired, she had left school, and vaguely remembering that she still had to buy the ingredients for tonight's dinner, went towards the shopping district. It was a stroke of fate, when, paying for her vegetables, she had spotted Sasuke's features crossing the street and going to the park.

Sakura was instantly running towards him, ingredients in tow. Despite herself, she called out to him in an embarrassingly desperate manner, realizing she had no right to call him so familiarly.

"Sas—**_Uchiha-san_**! Please wait!"

He stopped, and before he could turn around, Sakura bowed to him.

"I'm really sorry! I didn't know you had nothing to do with that, and still Naruto picked a fight with you and you had to get hurt!"

She straightened up and was shocked. She hadn't been talking to Sasuke, but to someone who had almost the same devastatingly handsome features. The only difference was that this one had long black hair tied to a ponytail behind his neck, and he seemed infinitely more mature than her classmate. He was wearing plain everyday clothes, but he didn't seem plain at all. In fact, everything about him seemed silky, from his hair, to his movements, to his look.

Sakura found her voice. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean—you looked like..."

"Someone you know?" He finished for her.

Hell, even his voice was silky. Sakura was flaming up in embarrassment. Unable to take it much longer, she bowed to him again and took off.

The sides of his mouth turned slightly upward, signaling his amusement. His little brother had _very_ interesting acquaintances indeed.

* * *

I'm back! I'm so happy! After almost half a year, I'm going to regularly update this fic again. I'm sorry for the sudden hiatus, I've been really busy these past few months with schoolwork, but I'm back with a vengeance. For this summer, you guys can expect an update every two weeks or less. Thanks for the support!

100+ reviews! I never thought I'd reach this mark at chapter 5! You guys have made me so happy! Thank you for reading and reviewing this fic, I love reading all your reviews. They encourage me so much, and if you see something you don't understand, just mention it in your review. Please review this chapter too!

I'm listing some translations for Japanese phrases I've used for this chapter:

**_Kuso Yaro_** – _kuso_ for damn and _yaro_ for disliked guy... so put together, it would be kinda like _damn bastard_...

I'm really happy right now, since I've been able to introduce Neji, Lee, and Tenten in this chapter, as well as Itachi. This chapter is actually slightly longer than my previous ones, so much had to happen to set things in motion. Anyway, till next update, please review!

Thanks to my reviewers:

**snow-leopard-demon24, Silent Kunoichi aka. Fiona McKinnon, PowerfulMind, sasukerox, MuS1C.LuV4, sasukerocks, magicalplay, KoKo-Iris, shinobu27, krista, alaine, Shinobi Darkbeak**

- Thanks so much for all the support! I know this is a REALLY late update, but I hope I can make it up to you guys! Everyone says such encouraging things! I love you guys! XD

**Riona 11, fRenZ4EveR**

- Thanks! I'm trying to make Sakura stronger, but it won't be an easy path for her! Hehe... Anyway, thanks for reviewing, and please review this chapter too!

**SakuraTamao, Motokonobaka, Konoha Gaurdian, ice-firefly**

- Thanks! And yes, Kabuto _is_ up to no good, that much I can tell you! But he will play an integral part in this story, so I hope you guys watch out for that! Thanks again, and please review!

**Blizzie-chan, Hatake Naruto, GothMistress, Xtreme Nuisance, Tank, lilkidz, sisteena, Priestess Kag-chan, AnimeSenko, BaBy-U-AmaZe-Me, Rel, cuito, Ayumi-Aldaba**

- Thanks! And this is _still_ NaruSakuSasu (+unknown person? laughs)! I think you can guess now who that unknown person is! I think after these two chappies some SasuSaku is in order, but I'm not going to promise anything! Hehe... Thanks, and please review again!

**hikaru0918, animEvivvErz, shir0-chan, LAYDiE PEACHiE, lordessofchaos**

- Thanks so much for the compliments! I'm so happy you think that this story is written well! Sniff I've been trying to make this as exciting as I want it to be and I can see that my efforts are paying off. Thank you so much! Please review this chapter as well!


	7. Motivation

Chapter 7: **Motivation**

"Uh...could you kindly repeat that?"

Kabuto had been surprised at Sakura's unannounced arrival at his front door on Saturday morning. But more than that, the thing that had his mouth hanging open in astonishment was her sudden offer.

Sakura held him in an unflinching gaze, as if willing him to obey. "Please train me, Kabuto-san. I'm intelligent, and I learn fast. Add to that, I'm a pretty hard worker. I promise that I won't be any burden to you. In return, I'm giving you all my money; I'll even work for you if you want it to be so."

This was an unexpected twist. Kabuto didn't know what to say to that determined speech. He gave her a hesitant smile and opened the door. "I think you should come in first so we can discuss this in more detail."

Sakura's face brightened with a smile. He was inviting her in! At first, she was afraid he would think the idea so ludicrous that he'd shut the door in her face right after hearing her proposition. She had hope yet! He had wanted to discuss it, and Sakura was determined to do everything in her power to make this arrangement sound good to him.

He motioned for her to sit on the couch, while he relaxed on the one-seater across from her.

"Do you still have anything broken that I might have missed?"

Sakura laughed cheerfully. Kabuto was decidedly making this discussion as casual as he could. She played along, not wanting to offend her host.

"Yes, I think I might have to have my brain examined. I've been getting so many crazy ideas lately that I thought I had to at least do one of them." She looked at him apologetically. "Sorry for coming here without calling you first."

"Don't worry about it. Would you like a drink?"

"Yes, a cup of tea would be very nice, thank you."

He went to the kitchen to prepare the tea, and after a few minutes came back and poured her a cup. This gave Sakura time to prepare her speech.

Kabuto sipped his tea and did not anymore delay the inevitable. "Now, you said you wanted me to train you. Are you preparing for a second assault?" He grinned at her.

She grinned back at him. "No, at least not right now. And I'm not expecting any more enemies either."

"That's good. But why do you suddenly want me to train you?"

"Truth is, Kabuto-san, I'm just a transferee at Konoha Gakuen. I'm in my second year right now, but my ninja-trainee level is at the lowest. I want to quickly catch up with my classmates." She sighed in exasperation. "But I'm moving at a snail's pace, having my ninja classes progress at the same time as the first-years'. Six weeks from now, second-year classes will be separated into three-man teams, and be sent on missions. But I'll be ineligible for that if I don't pass the first year exams first."

Kabuto pondered on the possibilities. "So you want to pass your first year exams and be on time for the formation of teams." At her nod, he continued. "But why me? You could always get a teacher from your school to personally tutor you. I'm sure someone would do it if you asked."

"Well, there's one other reason why I want you to train me." Sakura lowered her head. "You see, I want you to teach me medical ninjutsu."

"You're kidding, right?"

She stared at him. "No! I'm perfectly serious, Kabuto-san! I really want to be a medic-nin."

He took a long time in answering her. "Look, I don't want to crush any hopes, and I haven't personally seen what you can do, but medical ninjutsu is no joke. A person must have really good chakra control along with sufficient stamina to be a successful medic-nin. The latter can be achieved with proper physical training, but the former is innate, if not attained with years of training."

Sakura nodded vigorously, digesting everything he said with gusto.

Kabuto sighed, undeterred by her seeming enthusiasm in the subject. "Not only that, a medic must have extraordinary intellect, show exceptional judgment, and be a quick thinker. Lives are saved and lost everyday. If you want to be a medic, you should understand that."

This time, Sakura sat in silence. She knew he would not approve of her reasons, but Sakura only wanted to become useful to herself and to the people around her. If she saved any lives while doing that, then more power to her, right?

While the pink-haired girl reflected on herself, Kabuto weighed his options. If he decided to train the girl, his time would definitely be constricted and the sudden change might put the plan in jeopardy. But although uncertain of his decision, he was interested in what she was capable of. She didn't look like she was bragging when she told him she was intelligent and a hard worker; she looked like she was speaking matter-of-factly. It wasn't everyday Kabuto was impressed with someone's guts.

After a minute of contemplative silence for both of them, he spoke again. "There are lots of medic-nins at school. Why ask me to train you?"

Sakura had been sure of her decision when she saw the school medic heal Naruto's wound. It was only a half-inch deep wound, nothing serious, the medic had said, but completely healing it had tired her so much that she was sweating badly when she finished. Kabuto, however, had healed her damaged face, spine, and wrist for one night, and didn't even appear tired the next morning. On instinct she knew Kabuto was not as simple as he'd made himself out to be, and she respected him for that. He was modest about his skills and took his vocation seriously. Besides, Sakura believed that only the best could teach the best.

Sakura smiled at him mysteriously. "You're the only one perfect for the job."

He laughed, then stood up and flicked her forehead with his index finger. "Alright, I give up. You win."

Sakura stood up in excitement. "So you'll train me?"

"Yes, I'll train you, on several conditions."

"I'll do anything, Kabuto-san! I'll even cook your dinner everyday! I also have some savings so I can at least repay you."

Kabuto held up his hands in mild amusement. "Hey, hey! Slow down! I'm not going to take your money, though I might take you up on the dinner offer, if you're any good. It's actually been a long time since I had a decent home-cooked meal."

Sakura gave him a bright smile. "I'll do it! But what are your other conditions?"

His face turned serious. "First, you will not say anything to anyone about your training with me. Who I am, what we do, where we go, what I teach you, stays between the both of us. Everything, Sakura. Even the medical ninjutsu, until you're a certified medic-nin, you cannot show to anyone."

She nodded in all seriousness.

"Second, I will not train you in medical ninjutsu." When Sakura's face started to protest, he held up a hand. "At least not yet. For the first six weeks, before the formation of teams and your exams, I'll train you strictly on the basic principles. Everything you're supposed to learn in your first year, and maybe more, depending on you, you will learn during that time. _If_ you pass your exams, I'll teach you medical ninjutsu. If you don't, then you will never bother me with this silly idea ever again."

Once again, she nodded, showing supreme confidence in her abilities.

Kabuto smirked inwardly. This girl might just be useful to him after all. "Third, you will do everything I say. All instructions I'm going to give you are to be obeyed to the letter."

She hesitated for a bit, but nodded all the same. Kabuto chose to lighten the mood by chuckling. "Look, you don't have to worry about anything. I won't ask you to strip in front of me or be my guinea pig."

Sakura colored in embarrassment. "No, I didn't think that, not at all!"

He patted her on the head, still laughing. "I was just joking! Anyway, if you agree to these conditions, we can begin on Monday."

Sakura beamed at him. "I'll be here on Monday."

"You don't have to. Wait here a second." Kabuto turned his back on her and left the room for a few minutes. When he came back, he handed her a sheet of paper.

"What's this?"

"That's your reading list. I'm going to give you a reading list everyday, and you have to memorize everything that's in those scrolls. You can find all of them in the library at Konoha." He recognized her look of shock and smirked at her. "Want to back out now?"

Sakura schooled her features into one of determination. "No, I'll do it."

"You may think it sounds strict but we don't have a lot of time. Those scrolls will take care of basic ninjutsu, genjutsu, and ninja information. Everything you have to do is listed down in the scrolls that I'll tell you to memorize. You just have to follow the written instructions."

"So I won't be coming here after all?" She sounded disheartened.

"Quite the opposite. I'm actually thinking if you should live here until we've finished basic training. The reading list is only half of it, you see. There's still taijutsu and motion training, right? While the strength of your intellect can certainly affect the first three facets of your training, it certainly won't help much in throwing your shuriken accurately or dodging the enemy's blows. After school, you will immediately come here to train until I'm satisfied you've learned enough for the day. You may even be too exhausted to go home after training. But we can see to the arrangements later."

She gulped. "So I'm going to memorize these books _in class_?"

Kabuto grinned at her teasingly. "If you can do it at lunch break then good for you!"

Sakura groaned inwardly. "I'm not super-human, you know."

He kept his teasing grin. "Don't blame me; it was you who insisted I train you, right?"

Despite herself, she grinned back at him. "Shut up. You know I'll do it. I just think you're having too much fun bullying me around, _Sensei_."

* * *

"_The distance between... if the car was running... the ninja starts here..._"

Iruka's voice and the grating sound of the chalk on the board served as a distant lullaby to most of the class.

"Hey guys, I've got this really cool new jutsu I wanna show you! Akamaru and I have been training for weeks and we've finally perfected it!" The quiet exclamation was followed by an excited bark.

Hinata looked excited as well. "That's great, Kiba-kun!"

Naruto seemed to take it as a light-hearted challenge. "All right! I'll show you my new technique as well. It's so cool your jutsu would look like dog poop!"

"Oh yeah? You wanna bet on that?"

"I will!"

"_Che_. How troublesome."

That last statement had been made by their other classmate, Nara Shikamaru, a nice-looking but very lazy guy. His hair was done in such a way that it kinda reminded Sakura of a pineapple. But his defining characteristic was that, as Asuma-sensei—their Chemistry teacher as well as the second-years' projectile instructor—had always remarked on, he was outstandingly intelligent. The only person Sakura would have admitted to be on the same level as hers in the brain aspect was Nara Shikamaru.

"Let them be, Shikamaru. I just hope they're bringing food when they fight so we can watch while eating."

It didn't take a genius to realize that Akimichi Chouji liked to eat. The topic of his every conversation was food, and, Sakura noted with pleasant surprise, she was never bored talking to him. She loved cooking, and he had given her so many ideas she was sure she wouldn't bother buying a cookbook anymore if she had any problems. Chouji was an all-around nice guy; he was fat, too, but Sakura thought he'd be really good-looking if he was slimmer.

It seemed to Sakura that almost all of them, after the events last week, had had a definite change of attitude towards her. Kiba had been almost hostile to her since their first meeting; it seemed he thought she was up to no good with that flirty attitude she had displayed at first. So she was shocked when, last Monday, he had invited her to lunch with all of them. It was no big deal actually; he had invited Naruto with them as he did countless of times before, and as Naruto started to refuse on her behalf, Kiba had suddenly invited her as well, like an afterthought. She had gladly accepted, wanting to be better friends with Hinata and the others. Shikamaru could care less; everything but the blue sky and clouds was troublesome. Chouji welcomed her warmly and treated her to a delicious slice of the chocolate cake he had prepared for lunch. Though Shino was still Shino, he was as close to her as he could get to any of them, and was quiet as ever. Also, sensing the change in her friends, Hinata had been more open with her. Since then it had been four days, and having lunch with them seemed natural now. Sakura thought she couldn't be happier.

Yesterday, though, she was greeted by the most amusing surprise yet. Ino had called out to her and asked if they could talk in private. She had readily agreed, but it was a few moments before Ino gathered up the courage to say her piece.

"_Look, I haven't told you that I'm sorry for deliberately pitting you against Sasuke-kun. I should have known that would happen, and annoying though you may be, you still didn't deserve such a harsh beating."_

"_It's okay; it's already in the past." Sakura giggled. "And I admit that I was really a selfish bitch at the time."_

_For the first time, Ino grinned at her without any guile. "Hey Forehead, I think your hairdo sucks, and as much as it suits you, I'd hate to see something so hideous everyday of my God-given life. So I'll do you a favor and take you to my favorite salon on Saturday, if you're free to go."_

_Sakura returned the grin in full measure. "I hate to admit it, but you're quite right. You've got a date, Pig."_

And after that there had been no more hostility between her and Ino, and life was back to normal, or at least a semblance of it. There was only one more fact which bothered her to distraction. Uchiha Sasuke was now studiously attending each and every one of their classes. His existence was the root of so many embarrassing memories for Sakura, so it didn't help any that she now had to see him every day. She remembered her awkward meeting with his look-alike, and immediately her face flamed. Every time she tried to face Sasuke with her apology, she was turned into a coward by her chagrin. She wondered if she should try again...

'No! _No!_ **_No!_**'

Sakura shook her head, forcing herself to concentrate on the scroll she was reading. The others around her seat had lapsed into excited conversation. Physics with Iruka-sensei wasn't exactly boring, and Sakura would have gladly paid attention had she not been busy with learning something else.

This was the fifth day since she started training under Kabuto. Apparently, he wasn't joking when he said he would be strict. Everyday he had surprised her with weird tests on the scrolls she was supposed to have memorized. First was a written test, which was normal enough. The next day she had literally walked into his house to find herself in an illusion, a moderately powerful genjutsu that took all her concentration and chakra to beat. Then the day after that, she had to do a henge and transform into a size that would easily let her inside the suddenly minute door of Kabuto's apartment. Since then she had been even more vigilant with her studies, not wanting to fall behind her instructor's expectations, or fall into his traps.

"Sakura-chan! _Sakura-chan!_" Naruto was whispering worriedly behind her ear.

"_What?_"

"_Ehrm._" Iruka had somehow magically appeared beside their desk, looking at her expectantly. "Well, Sakura?"

For the life of her, Sakura had no idea what the teacher was asking. She shot a pleading look towards Naruto. He seemed to catch her drift and pointed towards the only unanswered question on the blackboard.

Sakura visibly relaxed. "Oh, that. Thirty-five kilometers per hour."

"That's..." Iruka had to check his notes to make sure "...correct." And he went back to the teacher's desk, a little discomfited.

Naruto grinned at her. "Great going, Sakura-chan!"

"Oh, it was just a pretty basic problem." She was a little embarrassed. "The distance between the car and the ninja, and the constant speed of the car are given. The car is going north, while the ninja's starting position is directly east of the car's starting point."

She indicated the points drawn on the board.

"Oh yeah! So there's a right angle being made by the car's movement and the ninja's position."

Sakura smiled. "Correct. Since we know the constant speed of the car, what's left is to use the Pythagorean Theorem to calculate the necessary speed for the ninja to intercept the car, thus permitting him to assassinate his target."

"That's cool! And you thought all that in the blink of an eye!"

Sakura had learned how to handle praises since she was a kid. "Stop it, Naruto. I'm sure everyone can do the same, given some practice, and I'm positive Shikamaru could've answered that in half the time I spent. Thanks anyway." She smiled at him.

Chouji spoke from behind. "Don't let him fool you. Originally, Iruka-sensei came up here to have them answer the question since they were so noisy. But it seemed to him you were the most inattentive, so he asked you the question instead."

She glared playfully at Naruto. "_I see._ So _that's_ why some butt-kissing was in order."

Naruto sighed in defeat. "Alright already! I'll buy you ice cream for lunch."

"For everyone."

"_Noooooooo!_"

A piece of chalk flew across the room and found its target—Naruto's forehead.

"**QUIET!**"

* * *

She was exhausted. It seemed that she looked the part too, because it was already the fifth time today that Naruto had asked her if she was alright. Even Hinata had commented on how pale she was. Sakura knew all that, and had she the energy she would've put on make-up, if only to avoid the worried glances her friends gave her.

It was only a few more days until the formation of teams, and that meant there was only a little time left until her exams. Every night for the past five weeks, Kabuto had been constantly stretching her outside of her physical limits with training. Sakura was still a bit behind in taijutsu, but motion training she had already finished. Her kunai and shuriken always accurately hit their targets, and jumping up on roofs and tree branches were no big deal now.

Her stamina suffered after every training night. In fairness to Kabuto, he had given her ample time to sleep, and even allowed her to rest or go out with friends on weekends. But the only time she did the latter was when Ino had invited her to the salon to get her hair done properly, and they went shopping after. The whole excursion was fun, but very taxing. All other weekends Sakura had spent at home, sleeping.

She felt dizzy. Sakura stopped her descent and gripped the railing to steady herself. It wasn't good to pass out in the middle of the stairs in a school building. Then her knees buckled, and Sakura muttered a curse as everything turned black.

* * *

"Hey, Ino-pig, have you seen Sakura-chan anywhere?"

A vein popped up on the side of Ino's forehead, and in retaliation she pulled on his ear.

"I told you not to call me that! And to answer your question, no, I haven't seen her."

"Ouch ouch ouch!" Ino released him, and Naruto rubbed his ear. "I'm just worried. She's been acting funny for a while now."

"I know. It's certainly strange when the queen of vanity comes to school looking like a zombie."

"Not only that, she's busy as ever in studies, but she doesn't listen to a word the teacher says. She's always reading some scroll, and before and after every class she runs off to the library and comes back with another."

"Yeah, she's been late a number of times because of that!"

"Every time I offer to walk her home, she always refuses."

Ino nodded. "I know. She always says she's busy when I invite her to go shopping with the girls on weekends."

Naruto scratched his chin. "Even worse, she looks completely exhausted almost everyday. Sometimes I wonder if she's training in secret."

The blond girl's eyes widened. "That's it! She did say she wanted to be strong, right?"

"But she shouldn't overwork herself. She can't expect to catch up to us in just two months time." Or did she?

"If it's you, then she doesn't need to work _that_ hard." Naruto looked annoyed, and she started laughing. "Hey, it was just a joke! No need to get upset. Anyway, you never know. That girl is stubborn enough to impress a mule."

Naruto turned to leave. "Look, I gotta go find her. Thanks anyway, Ino-pig."

And got a pen shoved up his nose.

* * *

Sakura was greeted by the bright red glare of the sunset when she reawakened. Before the thought that she was already in heaven crept up to her, she felt the cold hard floor on her back. She slowly sat up, not wanting to disorient the senses that were only just making a comeback, and recognized the all-too-familiar surroundings. That brought on a dreadful realization, and the cough behind her confirmed her deduction to be correct.

"Um, if you don't mind my asking..."

"I do."

She continued persistently. "...how'd I get up here?"

Sasuke raised one eyebrow. "Do you sleepwalk?"

She shook her head.

"Then you've got your answer."

So he carried her all the way up the clock tower? What for? Sakura tried to stand, only to fail miserably. Her knees weren't dependable, and so was his logic.

"Why?"

He took his sweet time answering her. "You needed my help. I climb up here everyday. I did both."

Was she just incredibly intelligent or was he some lower life form with a one-track mind?

"Thank you for your help, but you could've just carried me to the infirmary."

Once again the infamous glare was on her. "If you want to complain, then don't pass out in front of me."

Irritating. He was absolutely irritating. "I did not pass out _in front of you_. Obviously, I had no choice in the matter. If I had a choice though, it would have had to be at least—"

"Uzumaki Naruto?"

She was going to say "somebody else", but shrugged the whole thing off. She didn't give a damn what he thought, like she didn't give a damn about him. Once again, she tried to stand, and managed the feat, although a bit wobbly. She aimed for the trapdoor, but was stopped by Sasuke's body in front of hers. She was amazed at how he moved so fast so silently, but kept her face impassive.

"I'd like to go home now, if that's all right with you." It was a statement, not a question.

In response, he pulled out a small cloth bag from his pocket. "Take it."

"I didn't ask for it. And what's in it anyway?"

"Stamina pills."

"I don't need them." She tried to proceed towards the exit, but he refused to budge.

"Take it."

She sighed audibly. "If I agree to take this, will you get the hell out of my way?"

He nodded. Sakura thought the guy could probably win millions gambling. He had a great poker face.

"Why are you giving me this anyway?"

Now he looked irritated as well. "Why do you _always_ need to ask why?"

Sakura gritted her teeth and snatched the cloth bag from him. She pocketed it and skirted around Sasuke. But she was stopped again, this time by the sound of his voice.

"I hate debts."

Debts? But to whom...oh...oh! Sakura's face was red with embarrassment.

"I can't take this, then! You don't owe me anything, Uchiha-san! In fact, I should apologize to you. You had nothing to do with that and still Naruto..."

Sasuke was looking at her like she was the most stupid person he'd ever met.

Sakura decided to drop the subject. If he wanted the blame, then who was she to argue? Sakura turned to leave, for the last time, she thought to herself, and was dumbfounded when she saw Sasuke kneeling with his back to her.

When she took her sweet time, he finally got annoyed. "I'm leaving. Are you coming or what?"

"Coming...you mean piggyback?" Her eyes were wide as saucers.

"You might as well roll down the stairs the way you are now. The pills only take effect after an hour. If you're willing to wait that long, then I'm going."

He started to straighten, and Sakura was forced to admit he was right. But it didn't make it any less embarrassing.

"Wait! I'll go with you."

He lifted her and started down the stairs.

Sakura was so stiff she thought her spine would crack any time now.

"If you're not going to relax, I'm going to drop you."

He sounded so serious, she relaxed in an instant. Her body slumped onto his back, and Sakura gave up all pretense and wound her arms around his neck. She was _not_ going to let embarrassment kill her.

Sakura was appalled that he'd even think of leaving her there helpless and alone, when he himself had put her there. Cold-hearted bastard. Then with a wisp of a smile, she realized that he had cared. Surely, in his own way, he had cared.

* * *

She hadn't expected the pills to work so incredibly. Kabuto had approved of their use, saying she needed some badly and promising that the workload would be lighter once she passed her exams. It was one of the Uchiha family secrets, he said, but Sakura didn't know the Uchiha family and thus had her own doubts. But all of that was cleared when she woke up the next morning and her body hadn't felt like dead weight. She gave a silent prayer of thanks to whatever possessed Sasuke to do such a thing and merrily prepared for school.

"Kakashi-sensei, if I may, I'd like to take my first-year training exams tomorrow."

Kakashi observed her thoroughly with his open eye. She looked confident enough, and so far no complaints have been heard against her. These past few days though, she had been losing color like the bookstore lost copies of Icha Icha Paradise. But now she looked healthy and fit. Maybe the girl really did have it in her.

"All right. You'll have the test tomorrow for the whole afternoon. Come to the training halls after lunch break. I'll be your examiner."

She was a bungle of nerves the next day. She knew all the basic techniques, and even some advanced ones, by heart. She was confident in her abilities, but Kakashi had given her no hint as to what the test would be. During lunch with Naruto and the others, she was as jumpy as a cat, which didn't escape her friends' attention. When finally the time had arrived, she set out for the training hall, opened the door, and walked right into one powerful genjutsu.

She smirked and began to relax. Kabuto had done the exact same thing.

"**_Kai!_**"

* * *

Rumors about the team-ups had been flying about since this morning. Everyone's excitement had built up during the past few days, and no one could talk about anything else. Even Naruto had been unusually quiet with nervousness. So when Kakashi walked inside the classroom, his presence was greeted with a strange silence, which the instructor promptly ignored.

"First order of business. Haruno!"

She stood up. "Yes!"

"Congratulations."

She beamed at him, then at her friends. No one in the class knew she had taken the exam, and everyone was surprised. No one bothered to discuss it, though. She had beaten up five second years, what was the big deal if she passed the first year exams after just two months?

Kakashi cleared his throat and continued. "Next, you will be divided to a total of thirteen teams."

Whispers were heard throughout the classroom. Thirteen? But there were forty students all-in-all. Was the other student going to be teamed-up with other classes?

"It was supposed to be fifteen, but as you know, five of your classmates dropped out of school after we had finalized the lists. The board has decided that the one with the lowest grades will not be part of a team. This is to be some sort of punishment for that student, and hopefully will encourage better performance in the future. Remember, excellence _is_ required in this class."

Renewed whispers were heard, as everybody was filled with anxiety. Well, _almost_ everybody. Shikamaru could care less; he thought this was troublesome too. Sasuke thought it pointless to worry. Nobody in his right mind would point at him and say loser at the same time.

"I will call the team number, then the members' names. Team Thirteen..."

Left and right, people were quietly chanting "_Me, me, me..._" like a sutra, and sighs of relief were heard from those whose names were called. The girls, after hearing their names, had chanted "_Sasuke-kun, Sasuke-kun, Sasuke-kun..._" in hopes of becoming teammates with him. But so far none had yet succeeded.

"Team Ten. Akimichi Chouji..."

Behind Sakura, Chouji had changed his chant to "_Shikamaru, Shikamaru, Shikamaru..._".

"...Yamanaka Ino..."

Sakura amused herself with seeing Ino silently mouth the national anthem of the girls today.

"...and Nara Shikamaru."

Ino looked shocked and disappointed, but Chouji had almost leapt for joy. Shikamaru's expression didn't change one bit. Three more sighs were heard as the names of Team Nine were announced.

"Team Eight. Hyuuga Hinata..."

Hinata was now silently mouthing "_Naruto, Naruto, Naruto..._" in fervent prayer, while Kiba, who had been silently watching until now, had surprisingly started chanting "_Me, me, me..._".

"...Inuzuka Kiba..."

Kiba's face brightened, but Hinata was oblivious as she continued her prayer.

"...and Aburame Shino."

Hinata was quite disappointed, but she was lucky enough. Her teammates were her two closest friends, and that was the best deal they had seen yet.

"Team Seven. Uchiha Sasuke..."

High-pitched chants of "_Me, me, me..._" had suddenly escalated in volume. Still, Kakashi paid no heed and continued his announcement in the same tone of voice. He could've shouted the next name in Sakura's ear for all the effect it had on her.

"...Haruno Sakura..."

She had suddenly become the target of all the heavily eye-shadowed glares in the classroom. But Sakura didn't notice. Before she knew it, she was chanting "_Naruto, Naruto, Naruto..._" so vigorously, it was equal to the urgency that Naruto was chanting his "_Me, me, me..._" with.

"...and Sai."

* * *

Please don't kill me, even though that was just a totally evil cliffy. Niahahaha! Four days, and I've got a new chapter up for you guys! Thanks so much for supporting this fic!

_Kai_ – a technique used to break the opponent's genjutsu. Another way to break genjutsu is to disrupt the chakra flow of the affected person.

Thanks for all the reviews. I love reading them! Please continue reviewing this fic, they keep me inspired. Next update will come soon, I promise!

**Tsumii **– Thanks! I've got major, and I mean **major** plans for Itachi. I hope you watch out for him! Thanks again!

**lookupon scarletskies** – Thanks! I like Sakura as her strong self, so I portray her as I like in this story. Thanks for reading and please review this time too!

**Toxic-Neon **– Thanks! And thanks for the compliment! I always write at dawn, so I'm worried that there may be mistakes. Please review this time as well!

**Riona 11** – Thanks! And Tsunade will appear, but at a later time, I think. Watch out for it, and thanks again for reviewing!

**SweetestChick** – Thanks! It feels great to know that this story is in your faves list. I'm so happy! Please review again, and thanks!

**Firefly-the-Wolf** – Thanks, and it's NaruSakuSasu! Hehe... I also like well thought-out details, so I like to write at a slower pace. Thanks for reviewing, and please do so for this one too!

**Rude** – Thanks for the review and the compliments! I hope this chapter is to your liking as well.

**Flames Of My Heart** – Thanks! And of course, as you can see in this chappie, Sakura _will_ be a kick-ass medic-nin. Though the question is when. Haha. Thanks again!

**Mind At Loss** – Thanks for the compliments! And yes, the Sand siblings will make an appearance, maybe even sooner than what I had planned.

**BaBy-U-AmaZe-Me** – Thanks! And I agree, Uchihas are totally hot. I hope this one made your morning too! Thanks again!

**Blizzie-chan** – Thanks! Itachi's here to stay, and so is this chapter! Thanks for reviewing and hope you review again!

**Shinobi Darkbeak** – Thanks for always reviewing! And I hope this update is fast enough to satisfy you guys. Your reviews make my day! Thanks again!

**shir0-chan** – Thanks! And again, you guessed correctly about Sai. I'm actually amazed. Haha. I've re-read everything, and I noticed that almost every other sentence has a curse word in it. So I decided to make it a little less profane, and I'm glad people like it. Thanks for the compliment and the encouraging review!


	8. Chapter 8 teaser

**Chapter 8:**

Sakura was in the middle of a critical situation.

Well, to be more precise, she was in the middle of two critical situations—namely, her two teammates. She felt like the only remaining person on the opposite side of a Royal Rumble, and if that was a right analogy, she might as well add that it was a wrestling match in the middle of a snowstorm.

On the (imaginary) red corner, sulky and arrogantly silent as usual, sat Uchiha Sasuke. She just couldn't believe all the animosity she was getting right now over having him as a teammate. Sakura didn't have a way to react to that fact that couldn't be perceived to be bad. If she seemed happy over the unexpected turn of events—which she was not, mind you, his legions of fangirls would have reason to unsheathe their claws and attack her viciously with snide remarks of how she didn't _really_ deserve to be his teammate; that she was there only to balance out the capability of the team. Remarks which Sakura didn't mistakenly interpret as _"You're weak, that's why you're there. Don't be so conceited."_ If she looked angry or even a bit despondent over having him as a teammate (but really, who could blame her, when Sasuke's conversational skills were as sophisticated as a flea's), the fangirls would take offense on the derogatory reaction against their idol. So Sakura kept her face blank most of the day, even when she was receiving curious looks from everywhere.

On the blue corner, grinning at what she guessed was a mosquito trying to suck blood from a stone, was Sai. She couldn't remember ever hearing what his last name was. He seemed friendly enough, smiling at anything and everything, which was supposed to relieve Sakura of some of the tension she was feeling. Ironically, it was doing quite the opposite. Having been the reigning queen of guile herself not too long ago, she knew how to distinguish a genuine person from a fake one. And his smiles were that—fake. But for some reason, Sai had realized that she knew, and had been quite _chummy_—insert sarcasm here—in his replies to her polite queries. Questions of_"How many siblings do you have?"_ were answered with _"None that I'll be introducing to you."_, all partnered with that constant condescending smile that was starting to annoy her.

And lastly, in the middle of the ring, was a measly girl. Well, she knew she was going to have to make _all_ the effort to ensure their impeccable teamwork. She couldn't expect Sasuke and Sai to get along well, not if first impressions were accurate. Having only been introduced by Kakashi-sensei, they had stared a full three seconds at each other, Sasuke glaring and Sai grinning, and promptly ignored each other ever since. Sakura slapped her forehead with her palm. If only she wasn't here, if only Naruto—

Sakura sighed. There was no use thinking about it now. If she wanted to be mediator, she would have to start now. She thought it better to begin with Sasuke. They knew each other, had experiences that linked them personally, and she was on first-name basis with his back—a memory that started her blushing. She had now quite grasped how to act around Sasuke, which, ideally, was to remain silent. But _that_ wouldn't help at all, would it? So she started on the next best subject: his passion for excellence. Maybe if she talked about something that would actually make him interested, like getting stronger or whatever, he'd actually listen.

"Sasuke-kun, do you mind if we set the training time for tomorrow to 5am?"

"Hn."

"Kakashi-sensei said we should just set the time ourselves and tell him later on what we've decided, but I think we should take his opinions into consideration. After all, _he's_ the one training us, and therefore he's the one who knows how exhausting it can be. We can't ignore schoolwork as well."

"Hn."

"Are you listening, Sasuke-kun?"

"Hn."

"There's a bird coming at you, Sasuke-kun!"

Red flag there—bright, bright red. Sakura didn't bat an eye when Sasuke glared at her. Maybe she was growing immune to his glares. After three seconds, she flinched. Ok, maybe not. Well, at least she got an answer, just not the right one. Sakura sighed, and promptly heard a snort from the other side.

"I don't see _you_ doing any better." She remarked with explicit disgust.

"You shouldn't try so hard. It really isn't impressive." All accompanied with the trademark smirk.

Sakura seethed. Sasuke's indifference was tolerable; thisguy was _not_.

"Maybe you can start shooting your mouth off _after_ you contribute something productive to this supposed discussion of our future as a team."

"I can at least contribute more than you can."

"…" Sakura looked down dejectedly. '_I don't doubt it.'_

And so, silence reigned once again.

* * *

"Do you think I should have left well enough alone?" 

Kakashi blinked. He had been reporting on the status of the current S-class missions, but he knew that the old man was referring to something completely different.

"Sir, you are the _Hokage_. Even if I _did_ tell you that, it wouldn't matter one bit."

Sarutobi chuckled. Of course, in a way, Kakashi had meant just that. "I don't quite think I did fair justice to that boy—giving his earned position to someone else, all for the benefit of the school."

Kakashi's visible eye narrowed. "Naruto can find his way to his team. I'm concerned about that boy we're putting with Team 7. He doesn't seem to mind at all that we know he's a spy. In fact, I don't think he even does anything to hide it."

"Of course he doesn't. It's his purpose."

"To what end?"

"That's what we'll have to wait to find out."

* * *

I'm really REALLY sorry to everyone who's been waiting for this story to be updated. I have NO excuses (other than the fact that I'm really uber duper busy with school, part time job, friends, performances, etc., which aren't really excuses since I think that all writers should finish stories they start). Fear not, I still love Naruto, and I'm still hanging on to every chapter released. This part has been done for quite some time now, I just didn't want to post it because it was still incomplete. But after reading a few of the reviews (thank you, Ynnah, and a TON of other readers I can't mention anymore), I decided to post this just so you knew I wasn't giving up this story yet. I can't promise when the complete Chapter 8 will be done, but I assure you that I'm still giving as much time as I can to keeping this story alive, one chapter at a time. 

Thank you so much, and your reviews really inspire me! Thanks for continually telling me to update. :)


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